


An Apprentice's Adventures

by MarkF



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M, Fpreg, High Fantasy, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-28
Updated: 2017-01-28
Packaged: 2018-09-20 10:36:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 9
Words: 37,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9487469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarkF/pseuds/MarkF
Summary: When 13-year-old Aidan is selected to serve as the aid to Skronina's ambassador to Andares, he doesn't realize the adventures he's in for...





	1. Chapter 1

"Aidan, anyone ever tell you you're crazy?"

I grunted as I pulled myself up the ledge, hoisting myself onto the landing before responding. "Hey, you weren't exactly unwilling when I asked you to come along."

My cousin, Kavon, quickly followed me up. "If I'd realized this involved climbing all over the outside of the palace, I'd have thought a little more before responding." He drew in a couple of quick breaths as he glanced around. "Do you know how much trouble I'm going to be in if we're caught? I'm supposed to be _responsible_ , after all." While he'd never really minded hanging out with me, at times he felt like he was expected to set an example for me, since his 16 years of age made him the elder of the two of us by 3 years.

"We won't get caught," I replied. "I've done this lots of times, but you've never known, right?"

"Well, we have kind of wondered were you'd disappear to at times, so this _does_ explain a lot." Kavon turned around. "The view's not bad."

We were standing on an old ledge that had originally been a part of the defenses, back when the city had been smaller. When the city of Toskel, originally just a small settlement of a few hundred people surrounding the palace, had grown, and better defenses added in other, more strategic locations elsewhere, the particular window that had been there had been walled up as a part of other palace projects, leaving the small ledge that we were now standing on. I had spotted it one day when I was 7, and had soon figured out a way to climb up to it. I'd used it at times to get away to think. Eventually, for some reason, I'd decided to show Kavon the spot, so one day, finding ourselves with some spare time during the noontime meal (we usually shared it together, as he worked close enough to the palace to make it practical to meet up, eat, and then get back to our jobs within the hour we were allotted), I'd talked Kavon to come up there.

"But still," Kavon said, "we'd better get back. You have to get back to training with Master Grendan, and I've got to get back down to the shop before Master Faltor starts wondering where I am." Kavon was apprenticed to Master Faltor, one of the city woodworkers (though Kavon was expected to make journeyman status by the end of the year), while I was apprenticed to Master Grendan, the palace master archivist.

"All right," I said, a little disappointed. When I'd apprenticed the day after my twelfth birthday to Master Grendan, I knew that my childhood (or at least most of it) had come to an end, but knowing that didn't make it any easier to accept. In many ways Kavon wasn't the only one of the two of us who was supposed to be "responsible" now (as more than a few adults spent no small amount of time reminding me). We quickly made it down and started walking back to the palace entrance, where we'd split up and head back to our respective jobs.

"So, you hear anything more about that envoy that came in last week?" Kavon asked, referring to an envoy that had come to see King Quillan, the monarch of our kingdom of Skronina, from the nation of Andares, Skronina's neighbor to the east.

I shook his head in the negative. "The only thing I've heard is that they're from Andares's king, here for some sort of meeting with King Quillan. Why, I don't know."

"It's odd," Kavon said. "It's not like we've been on bad terms with Andares, but it's not like we've been all buddy-buddy with them, either. There haven't been formal diplomatic relations between Andares and Skronina for as long as _I_ can remember."

I nodded. I certainly didn't pretend to understand all the intricacies of diplomacy, either. We soon arrived at the palace entrance, and parted ways with a "See you later!" and a wave. I greeted the two guards at the entrance, who waved back. I'd gotten to know most of the guards who were rotated to that position at least well enough for us all to recognize each other on sight.

I spotted my best friend, Camryn Hostler, and waved to him. He was apprenticed at one of the local inns, and met his mom for lunch every day in the palace (as his mom worked as one of the cooks there in the kitchen, and the inn he worked at was practically a stone's throw away). I regretted that I didn't have time to stop and talk to him, as I'd be late if I didn't, but I called out, "See you tonight!"

"Right!" he called back with his usual grin.

I headed back into the palace archives, where I picked up the cataloging I'd started that morning of a group of botanical books borrowed the week before by some government official or another for some problem some of the farmers were having in the south. I had just finished when Master Grendan came in.

"Ah, Aidan, there you are," Master Grendan said. "We have an audience with the king in an hour."

"The…king?" I said after a few moments of shock, my voice squeaking, as it'd had a tendency to do over the past few months. While I'd certainly had dreams of meeting the king, I'd never really thought of it ever occurring in reality!

"Yes," Master Grendan said somewhat impatiently. "You'll have to head home and get cleaned up. Change into your best clothes. Go, quickly! Come back here when you're ready."

I hurried home, my mind racing. I could understand the king wanting to see someone like Master Grendan – who was, after all, the palace master archivist and a Very Important Person (since not just anybody got to be the palace master archivist) – but what could King Quillan possibly want with a 13-year-old who'd been an apprentice archivist for barely a year?

Arriving home, I practically burst through the front door. My mother, Darcie, who was in the kitchen, gave me a quizzical look.

"Aidan, what's wrong?" she asked. "You didn't get into trouble, did you?"

"No, Ma!" I called out over my shoulder as I headed into my small bedroom. "Master Grendan says we're to meet with the king in less than an hour, and I need to make myself presentable."

"The king? Aidan, are you pulling my leg?"

"Ma!" I exclaimed in exasperation as I started pulling out the necessary clothes. "I wouldn't joke about something like this!"

"I don't mean to be rude or say that I don't believe you," my mother called out, "but why would King Quillan ask for you?"

"Dunno," I said. "Master Grendan didn't say."

I scooped up my clothes and charged into the bathroom. I wouldn't have time to heat water for the bath, but I didn't really mind. While summer was coming to an end, the weather was warm enough that a cool bath wouldn't feel bad. I filled up the bath (our house was in a neighborhood that had indoor plumbing, on account of my father having a good job as a mid-level government official), stripped, and climbed in. Grabbing the bar of soap, I vigorously scrubbed myself before dunking my head under the water, vigorously rubbing my hair.

Coming up out of the water, I released the plug at the bottom of the tub, allowing the water to drain out. Stepping out onto the mat and grabbing a towel, I quickly started drying myself off. I nearly jumped out of my skin when the door opened, but it turned out that it was only my 10-year-old brother, Rhys.

"You're going to meet the king?!" Rhys exclaimed excitedly.

"Yes," I said, rolling my eyes. Rhys wasn't too bad for a kid brother, but he could sure be annoying sometimes! "Hey, Rhys, either come in or go out. Don't stand there and let all the world gawk."

"Oh, sorry," Rhys said, stepping into the bathroom and shutting the door. "Still, is it true? You're going to see the king?"

"Yeah," I said, rubbing my hair vigorously with the towel before dropping it and grabbing my underclothing, pulling them on. While I would have felt rather uncomfortable getting dressed in front of most people, for some reason being naked in front of Rhys (or his being naked in front of me, for those times in which he'd have reason to remove his clothes around me) hadn't ever really bothered me, even after a few comments about his being jealous about my having some pubic hair. "And before you ask, no, I don't think I could bring you along."

"Awww," Rhys said, who'd wanted to go meet the king even more than I wanted to. One of his biggest fantasies was to be a great knight who was personally sent by the king on all sorts of heroic errands.

"Look, the king probably doesn't even want to see me specifically. I'm probably just going so that Master Grendan can have someone take notes for him or something like that."

"But still, can't I just go along? I'll keep real quiet, and stay out of the way. You won't even know I'm there!"

"Sorry, little bro, I don't think it works that way. Look, I'll be sure to remember what it's like, and I'll tell you tonight when I get back, okay?" I said, pulling on the last of my clothes.

"Okay," Rhys said, still sounding disappointed.

I slipped on the pendant that indicated that I was an apprentice archivist (as everyone who worked wore a pendant indication their profession and position within that profession), and combed my somewhat shaggy dirty blonde hair in the mirror (using a mirror of highly polished metal, as even my family didn't make the kind of money to be able to afford one of the somewhat rare – and rather expensive – glass mirrors used by the very wealthy and the nobility), my brown eyes staring back. I was already 5'6" in height, and thought I was rather on the skinny side, especially when comparing myself to people like Kavon.

But I knew I couldn't stand there staring at myself all day, so grabbing the clothes I'd been wearing and dumping them into the clothes hamper, I headed out.

"Don't forget – you have to tell me _everything_!" Rhys called out from where he stood at the front door.

"I will!" I called back over my shoulder.

I rushed most of the way to the archives, slowing to a walk a short way before I arrived so that I could use the time to catch my breath. When I arrived back at the palace archives, I found Master Grendan, decked out in his own best clothes, waiting there.

"Good," Master Grendan said. "You're back, with a few minutes to spare. Let's go now, though. It's better to be a few minutes early, especially when you have an audience with the king."

As we headed in towards the inner sanctum of the palace, I continued to wonder as to why I was being brought along. Finally, I could stand it no more.  
I swallowed hard and took a deep breath. "Master, I was wondering something..."

"And what might that be, young apprentice?" Master Grendan asked.

"It's just...why am _I_ coming along? I'm just an apprentice."

Master Grendan was quiet for a few moments, and just when I was afraid I'd overstepped my bounds, he spoke up. "I must confess, I don't really know myself. I received a summons this morning. I was directed to attend a meeting at two at the king's office, and I was to bring someone from the archives who could be immediately spared fully for an undisclosed period of time, literate enough to reasonably read and write on their own, and who could handle the rigors of such things as long-distance travel. Admittedly, the only one who met all the qualifications and who was available on such short notice was you."

I nodded, my mouth going dry. What was going on? While many of the other archivists in the kingdom could (and did) travel for long periods of time (we had to at times as part of our jobs), by the way Master Grendan phrased his reply, it sounded like they didn't have time to bring in someone from another archive in another part of the kingdom, which limited them to the few of us who were assigned to the palace archive and the branch archives within the city. Master Grendan was out (he, like most other older archivists, couldn't travel for too long, as a result of getting on in years), and if I was being brought along (as I was, according to Master Grendan, the apprentice who could read and write the best, by far, out of all the apprentices, on account of my having been taught at an early age by my father), it must have meant that none of the journeymen were in a position to be unavailable for a long period of time in their normal assignment on such short notice (they must either be out on assignment at the moment to outlying areas or were starting families of their own, or both). But knowing all that still didn't bring I any closer to understanding _why_ I was the one being selected, or for what.

We soon arrived at the antechamber that led to both the Great Hall and the king's private office (which was located next to the Great Hall), and Master Grendan identified us to the majordomo sitting behind the desk near the doors to the Great Hall.

"Please have a seat," the majordomo said as he rose, gesturing to several chairs by the wall before he headed through a side door. Master Grendan and I sat down. I wondered just how long we were supposed to wait.

"Don't fidget," Master Grendan quietly said through the side of his mouth at one point.

I was about to protest that I wasn't fidgeting, but then realized that that's exactly what I'd been doing. "Sorry, Master," I said.

After what seemed like an eternity to me, the majordomo reappeared. "His Majesty will see you now."

Master Grendan thanked the man as we rose, and we headed into the door that the majordomo had gone through. I looked around to find myself in an office, somewhat ornately decorated, with several other people already inside. Master Grendan went over to one man, who was wearing a crown, and knelt. Though I'd never seen the King Quillan up close, I immediately realized who the man was, so I quickly moved up beside Master Grendan and knelt as well.

"Please, rise," King Quillan said, and Master Grendan and I complied. "It's very good to see you, Master Grendan."

"It's good to see you as well, Your Majesty," Master Grendan said, rising rather slowly; I quickly offered him my arm for support as he got up, which he accepted gratefully. "May I present to you Apprentice Archivist Aidan Marsatal," he said to the king after fully rising.

"Your Majesty," I said politely, giving a rather nervous bow, and he nodded at me.

"Cutting to the chase," King Quillan said, gesturing to us to take two seats near him, "I'm sure you're both wondering why I summoned you here."

"The thought had crossed our minds, Your Majesty," Master Grendan said, with a smile and glance in my direction.

"I would like to introduce to you the ambassador from Andares, His Excellency Magan Forseth," King Quillan said, indicating a very well-dressed and well-groomed individual seated across from him; Master Grendan and I murmured the appropriate greetings, which he acknowledged with a tip of his head.

"The good ambassador brings a letter from King Osvaldo, expressing a desire to reopen formal diplomatic relations with us. It naturally goes without saying that we would love to agree, and we have concluded a few basic points that needed to be addressed by me specifically on our end.

"We do have someone from the diplomatic corps available to send as an ambassador for Skronina to the court of Andares. Omarion Kroaswell is knowledgeable about Andares, having been a merchant in his younger years and having traded extensively there. However, he was blinded 15 years ago in a tragic incident, and while he is more than willing to serve as our ambassador, it's felt that there is a need for someone to be his eyes for him in certain situations. Normally, he has a favorite aide to help him with such things, but the aide is presently on a leave of absence for several months up north to attend to a personal family situation, and as a result the ambassador doesn't have anyone available to help out at this time on such short notice, and we were hoping if you had someone to loan us in the capacity of an aide to Ambassador Kroaswell.

"Ambassador Kroaswell is anxious to be underway, since both our mages and Ambassador Forseth's own have determined that Anxion Pass will soon be hit with a series of summer storms making passage difficult, if not impossible during that time. It is also felt that the party should leave immediately, particularly as a week-long Andares festival, in accordance with their main religion, starts in just under a month, and Ambassador Kroaswell would like to have the embassy set up and operational before then."

Master Grendan smiled. "Archivist Marsatal could be spared for a time, Your Majesty. Of course, I'm sure you understand that I'd like him back eventually. He is proving himself rather useful in the archives."

Things did begin to make sense to me then. Archivists, besides being trained to handle (rather obviously) archives, often functioned well as aides, particularly to high-ranking members of the government, as the training we receive to work in the archives has often translated well to administrative work within the government (there were times us apprentice archivists would even get some group training with those apprenticed directly to government officials as aides). Most government aides, and more than a few of the government officials who hadn't been born into the nobility, started out as apprentice archivists (including my own father, which is how I'd gotten into the field). So it certainly made sense to send along an archivist (even if that archivist was still an apprentice) to assist the ambassador we were sending.

"Not to worry," King Quillan said. "The appointment is only until Ambassador Kroaswell's regular aide becomes available and can be sent to the court of Andares." King Quillan turned to me. "I trust you will not need much time to prepare to leave. The plans are for Ambassador Kroaswell and his entourage to leave at three thirty."

"Not a problem, Your Majesty," I managed to say, totally unprepared that I'd be having a conversation with the king himself. Master Grendan had always stressed the importance of being able to pack quickly, as, in his viewpoint, an archivist never knew when he or she would have to leave immediately, without much time for packing. "Is there anything in particular I should take with me?"

"The usual items for a long trip and assignment," King Quillan said. "Because you'll be traveling by caravan, expect the journey itself to take around two weeks, and expect to be in Jaana for several months, so pack accordingly." Jaana was Andares's capital city. "Since you will likely be in court as part of your duties, be sure to take along one or two very good outfits. More clothing can be obtained there, of course, but it's best to have some already available for any formal functions that might come up while you get settled in."

"Yes, Your Majesty," I said.

Master Grendan and I left after a few more pleasantries were exchanged and I'd received directions as to where to meet the convoy. I raced back home, charged past my confused mother, and headed into my bedroom. I kicked off my boots, then pulled off my pants and tunic.

Rhys, who'd followed me in, said, "Well?!"

"We're reestablishing diplomatic relations with Andares." I told him. "I'm to be an aide to our ambassador there for a while, a few months from the sound of it."  
Rhys' eyes went wide. "Wow..." he said quietly after a few moment.

Meanwhile, I'd pulled on a set of traveling clothes and boots, and the clothes and boots I'd been wearing, along with several sets of clothes, went into the two packs I had for just such an event. I grabbed my packs and headed back into the kitchen.

"Ma, I've got to go away for a while," I said, setting down my packs and proceeding to tell her what I'd told Rhys. She sat down, looking like she was in a state of shock. "Ma, are you all right?" I hesitantly asked when I'd finished.

She shook her head yes. "I'm sorry," she said in a slightly trembling voice. "I was just surprised, that's all. I mean, your father and I have always known since the day you were first apprenticed that there'd come times where you'd have to be away for noticeable periods of time, but still..." She wiped away a tear. "We just always thought that it would be a while before that would happen."

Admittedly, they weren't the only ones who'd thought that. "Ma, it's not like I'm being banished or anything," I said as I walked over to her and put my arm around her, trying to think of some way to assure her. "It's only for a few months until the ambassador's regular aide can get over there. Then I'll be coming straight back here."  
"Oh, I know, honey," she said, standing up and pulling me to her. "You're just growing up so quickly."

"Ma, I'd better get going," I said after a few moments.

"Right," she said, letting me go. "Now, you be on your best behavior, and do everything you're told."

I rolled my eyes (though not before making sure she couldn't see me doing that first), then looked over at Rhys, and suddenly he rushed over and wrapped me in a big hug. "You take care," he said, sounding like he was trying to hold back tears.

"I will," I told him; I fought back tears myself.

I grabbed my packs and headed out the door. I arrived at the designated location, near the innermost set of gates to the palace, to find preparations for what I assumed to be the convoy that would be going to Andares. Putting down my packs for a moment, I remembered that my father would on occasion refer to a situation as "organized chaos," and looking around I could certainly understand what he'd mean by such a statement. Not only were a lot of the people preparing the wagons dressed in the garb of palace workers, there were also several people who were dressed in clothing that was not like any I'd ever seen before, and I assumed that they must be some of the people who had come with Andares's ambassador and who would probably be returning with us.

Suddenly a hand dropped on my shoulder, startling me. I turned to find my father standing there. He scooped me up and wrapped me up in a bear hug – even though I'd hit a growth spurt a while back, he was still much bigger than I was.

"Now, you be on your best behavior," he said, "and do what you're told."

"Don't worry, Pa," I said. "As I already told Ma, I will."

He released me and put his hands on my shoulders, looking me in the face. "Yes, I'm sure you will," he said with a smile. "Write to us as much as you can, if it's possible. You know your mother – she'll worry enough as it is, even with regular communications." He paused for a moment, then continued. "This is a big opportunity for you. More than a few masters I've met in my day would give their right arm for this kind of an assignment. Pay attention to what goes on around you. You never know when something might come in use."

"Yes, Pa," I said.

A man dressed in ornate robes came over to where we were standing. I noticed that he was being led by one of the palace pages. "Apprentice Archivist Aidan Marsatal?" the man asked when they stopped near us. He stared straight ahead, even though we were a bit off to his side, and I realized that this must be Ambassador Kroaswell.

"That's me, sir," I said.

He turned in my direction and held his hand out. "It's good to meet you," he said. "I'm Omarion Kroaswell."

"It is good to meet you, Sir," I said, taking his hand and shaking it.

"Ah, you've got a good, firm handshake," he said with a smile. "Forgive my next question, but you seem rather younger than I expected. How old are you?"

"I just turned 13 a couple of weeks ago," I told him.

He was silent for a moment, then said, "I must confess I'm a bit surprised. I had expected someone..."

"Older?" I asked with a smile, and he nodded. "It's all right," I said. "I don't mind your question, Sir. Only us apprentices were available to commit to this trip on such short notice, and I'm the best. Or so Master Grendan says, anyway."

"I've had the opportunity to interact with Master Grendan on several occasions before, and I've found that he has a habit of knowing of what he speaks," Ambassador Kroaswell said. "Your parents must be proud."

"We are," my father finally said. "Ambassador, I'm Laken Marsatal, Aidan's father."

"It is good to meet you, Sir," Ambassador Kroaswell said. "I just want you to know I'll take good care of your son."

"I'm sure you will, Ambassador," my father said. "Now, I'm sure you've things to get done before you leave, so I'll get out of your way. Aidan, until you return, fare thee well. Mr. Ambassador."

"Fare thee well, Father," I said, and Ambassador Kroaswell also uttered the phrase (but replacing "Father" with "Sir," of course).

I watched my father leave, wondering how long it would be before I saw him (and the rest of my family and friends) again. I regretted not being able to say good-bye to my 19-year-old brother, Nasir, or my 17-year-old sister, Shalonda. Both were married, and were living in parts of town that I wouldn't be able to get to and return from in the amount of time I had. I was certainly going to miss them, and their spouses and kids!

"Here, before I forget," Ambassador Kroaswell said, reaching into a pocket and pulling something out. "Since you are, at the moment, a diplomatic aide rather than an apprentice archivist, it does necessitate a change in your pendant." He presented me with a pendant that was of different markings and coloring from the one I had on.

I took off my apprentice archivist pendant, and put it into my pocket. Taking the pendant he held out, I put it on. While I knew I was supposed to do that (and therefore wouldn't get into trouble for it), it felt a little strange to be wearing a pendant different from the one I'd gotten accustomed to wearing over the past year.

"Come, I imagine we still need to get your stuff loaded up," Ambassador Kroaswell said.

We quickly located the caravan master, who made sure I got my packs loaded up in one of the wagons. I was told I would be riding in the same wagon as Ambassador Kroaswell. I was also told it would be a little bit before the last of things would be ready. Feeling jittery, I walked about a bit to try to burn off the nervous energy. I soon realized that my travel had taken me right by the inn that Camryn worked at. I spotted him nearby, doing a bit of work outside, and I quickly hurried over.

"Ho, Aidan!" he called out when he saw me approach, a grin forming on his face.

"Ho, Camryn!" I replied. "I don't have a lot of time, so this'll have to be quick. You know that envoy that came from Andares?" He nodded, and I continued. "Well, we're reopening diplomatic relations with them. Our ambassador's leaving...and I'm going with him as his aide!"

"Whoa! No way!" he said, his astonishment clear on his face.

"Yes way," I replied, showing him my new pendant. "It'll only be for a few months. His normal aide's not available right now, so I'll be our ambassador's aide until the other aide is able to get there. I just wanted you to know, and to say good-bye for now."

"I've gotta admit I'm jealous!" Camryn said. "I'd jump at the chance for such a trip." We were quiet for a few moments. Then he said, "Well, take care. Write if you can, and I'll see you when you get back. And you get back, you _know_ you gotta tell me _everything_ that happens."

"Yeah, you and Rhys both," I said, and we both laughed. "Hey, if you could do me a small favor?"

"You know I will."

"Make sure my regular pendant gets back to my home," I said, taking it out of my pocket and handing it to him. "I won't be needing it until I get back."

"You bet," he said.

"I'd better get going," I continued. "See ya!"

"See ya!" he said.

I headed back, and as it turned out I made it back with only a couple of minutes to spare. All too quickly the signal to get into the wagons was given, and we were off. 

After we left the city, I watched it shrink into the background, and I tried to keep a brave face on.


	2. Chapter 2

Ambassador Kroaswell proved to be very apt at taking care of himself. When he asked me one evening as we sat next to a small campfire if I was surprised by that, I laughingly asked him why I was even being brought along at all.

He smiled. "Well, suffice to say, the bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the world. Some people think that I can't survive on my own, being blind and all."

"Sir, if I may ask..."

"You're wondering how it happened, aren't you? How I was blinded."

"Well, yes, sir. I was only told that it was as a result of a tragic incident that happened 15 years ago."

"Oh, is _that_ what they're calling it now?" he said with a bit of a snort. "I suppose you could call it that. It interestingly enough ties in with why I was selected to be the ambassador to Andares. I suppose they told you I got the position because I'm a merchant who used to trade in Andares a lot."

That's right," I replied.

"That is a part of it, I'm sure. But it's not the only reason, or even the main reason. After all, I'm not the only merchant to have traded extensively in Andares, not by a long shot. This 'tragic incident,' as some are apparently so fond of calling it, was when I was involved with what was supposed to be a routine trade mission. Now, it's important to remember that at the time diplomatic relations had already cooled somewhat between Skronina and Andares. It might seem like a shocking thing to most, but things had never really been all _that_ great between the two nations to begin with. Sure, we were never enemies or anything like that, but things were never all that buddy-buddy, to borrow a phrase my son and some of his friends used to use when they were your age, between Skronina and Andares. About 20 years ago, Andares turned a lot of their attention from foreign affairs to internal issues. They have some of the better social programs I've seen in my time, though I digress. Anyway, as I mentioned, 15 years ago I was involved with what was _supposed_ to be a routine trade mission that took me to one of Andares's duchies that is ruled by one of King Osvaldo's favorite cousins."

"Let me guess," I said. "Things didn't go quite as planned."

"Exactly. One of the 'internal issues' that was being addressed was dealing with pirates that had been plaguing Andares's eastern coast for several years, and as you can imagine, the pirates didn't take too kindly to that. The pirates decided to assassinate several notable members of the nobility – and yes, one of their targets was the aforementioned duke – figuring that they'd be an easier target than the more heavily guarded king. They hired an assassin mage to handle the dirty work. The attempted assassination – it turns out that the duke was to have been the first target – took place late one evening. I had been a guest at the palace, as the duke and I knew each other from several other prior engagements. That evening, as fate would have it, I had decided to head down to the stables to check on one of my horses, a mare who was pregnant and was close to delivering. I stumbled across the assassin – almost literally – as he was carrying out his plan. Apparently, it startled him as much as it had startled me, and he dropped something called a flashbang. I don't know if you've heard of those before."

"I have," I said. Flashbangs were very popular with assassins, though hard to come by. They were ceramic balls filed with chemicals, enhanced with magic, that would cause a bright flash and a loud bang (hence the name) when broken and stun anyone nearby (or at least those without certain magical wards over their eyes and ears) long enough for an assassin to carry out his task; looking directly at a flashbang without the aforementioned magical wards over your eyes when it went off could lead to permanent blindness.

"But how'd you survive?" I asked. "I mean, I'm sure the assassin couldn't exactly have been thrilled that you messed up his plans like that."

"Fortunately there were guards near enough to hear the flashbang going off but not so close that they were blinded in the flash or dazed by the noise. And as it turns out, the assassin had not yet had an opportunity to place the needed wards over his own eyes and ears, and was momentarily stunned as well. It made it possible for the guards to discover what was happening, figure out what was going on, and kill the assassin before he was able to kill me or anyone else. The duke was saddened that one of his guests would be injured while under his roof, but also grateful at the same time that I'd saved his life, even though it was unintentional."

"I'm sorry," I said, not knowing what else to say.

"There's nothing for you to be sorry about," he assured me. "As an old saying goes, life is what happens while you're making other plans."  
I soon started to learn to appreciate that statement. A part of the supplies that had been sent along were cots for sleeping in, but because of the need for traveling somewhat lightly for speed purposes, there had only been a limited amount sent along, so I politely offered to not use one. As a result, I had been sleeping in the back of the very wagon that I rode in during the day.

Two days after the conversation I had with Ambassador Kroaswell, we reached the foot of the Kanant Mountains (which the Anxion Pass went through at the top). That night I was awoken by some sort of commotion. Groggily I sat up.

"What's going on?" I murmured, rubbing sleep out of my eyes. I dropped my hands just in time to see a fist coming right at me. It slammed into my face, and all went dark...

******

I slowly came to, groaning. I tried to sit up, but immediately flopped back down as the world spun around me.

"Shhhh," someone – a woman – said at the same time a hand was placed gently on my chest. "You've had a rough night."

"What happened?" I moaned out. "Where am I?"

The hand was removed from my chest, and someone helped me sit up, and once the room stopped spinning, I looked around. I was in a small room, with several people near me. A mug was pressed into my hands, and I was directed to drink.

"You're in the settlement of Klodia," one woman told me as I drank some sort of tea, and I recognized her voice as the one who'd spoken earlier. I remembered hearing about Klodia; it was a settlement not too far from the route we were taking. It was one of several settlements in the area founded a couple of hundred years before by a group of people looking to maintain their belief system away from the persecution that existed at the time; while such persecutions had long since ended as people learned that different beliefs weren't necessarily bad, the descendents of those settlers remained where they'd been raised, and still remained the dominant belief system in the area.

"Your caravan was attacked last night by a group of bandits," the woman continued. "One of our scouting parties happened upon the scene just after the attack started, and was able to kill several of the bandits and chase off the rest. Oh, and sorry about Pacey," and she jerked her head towards a wiry fellow, "slugging you like that. When you sat up, it surprised him, and he thought you were a bandit."

"Yes, my apologies," Pacey rumbled in a voice deeper than I'd thought would come out of someone his size.

"Is everybody all right?" I asked.

"A few cuts and scrapes," she said. "You were the worst off in most ways. Several of your wagons were damaged. You'll be stuck here a while waiting for them to be fixed." I finished the tea, and she took the mug from me. "Oh, I'm sorry," she said. "Where are my manners? I'm Kala Yoanda, Klodia's healer."

"Aidan Marsatal, apprentice archivist in the palace at Toskel and current ambassadorial aide," I said.

"Nice to meet you," Kala said. "I only wish it was under better circumstances."

"So, can I see the others from my group?" I asked. "I'd like to let them know I'm all right."

"Of course," Kala said.

I hopped off the bed, but had to stop as the room spun around me once again. Kala placed a supporting hand at my elbow until the room stopped spinning. I took a deep breath and nodded at her when I was ready.

We headed out of the room, and I was taken to some sort of communal room, where I saw quite a few other people, including Ambassador Kroaswell and several other members of our party, were seated at tables. The smell of food was in the air, and my stomach rumbled.

"About time you rejoined us, sleepyhead," Shemar, the driver of the wagon Ambassador Kroaswell and I rode in, said with a grin.

"So Aidan is finally with us again, I take it," said Ambassador Kroaswell.

"Yes, sir," I replied.

"Please, come sit down with me," he directed, and I came over and took a vacant spot on the bench he was seated on. "Now," he continued, gesturing in the general direction of three girls, around Kavon's age, who were seated across from him, "I hope I may be permitted to introduce my three dining companions. These are Jovana Ainsley, Deyanira Jabari, and Adamaris Maliah." Each girl raised her hand as she was named. "Ladies, this is Aidan Marsatal, my aide."

"Hello," I said, waving somewhat shyly at them, and each of the three girls returned the greeting, as strange, conflicting feelings washed over me. I'd been having what I suppose are the "usual" feelings towards girls since hitting puberty, and while my father had told me about it when we'd had "the talk" years ago (and I thus knew to expect it), I'd also been having those feelings about boys as well, and I didn't quite know what to make of it. While pa had mentioned that there were those who also held those feelings for their own gender (either just for their own gender or for both genders), he seemed to imply that it was something I shouldn't expect.

A while after I'd started having these feelings, I'd read up in the archives about it. I learned that all three categories were considered socially acceptable, and it was even possible for two members, whether of the opposite gender or same gender, to become lifebonded to each other (a somewhat rare occurrence no one really seemed to understand, in which two people more than just fell in love with each other, but also had some sort of deep bond between each other that was unbreakable for the life of the two partners).

It was a couple of days before I could figure out how to ask pa why he hadn't really talked a lot about it without mentioning that I'd been experiencing bisexual feelings myself (and a part of what had been particularly freaky about having those feelings was that, as of late, I was sometimes finding them directed at guys like my friend Camryn – and not just basic kissing stuff, but sometimes more...explicit thoughts; I'd also read more about masturbation, which pa had referred to in passing during "the talk," during that time, and after a bit of hesitant exploration of my body, I now played with myself on what the writings indicated as being a fairly regular, though perfectly normal for someone of my age, basis).

He admitted that it was because that he and ma hadn't ever really thought about it – nobody they knew well had such feelings, and there hadn't seemed to be any real reason to go into any depth on it with any of us kids. Apparently I hadn't done as good a job as I'd thought in disguising the reason why I'd asked, because he then asked if I was having such feelings myself. I wanted to deny it, but looking into his eyes I felt I could tell him anything.

"I...I think so," I'd admitted. "I don't know. I'm kinda confused."

He told me that sometimes it took a while for an individual to sort out their feelings about which of the three orientations they were, and he assured me that no matter what, he and my ma would always love me.

Back in the present, Ambassador Kroaswell said, "Aidan, we'll have to stay here for several days. I don't know how much you've been told about what happened last night, but several wagons were damaged, and while these good people have offered to help us fix them, it will take a little while."

"How long will it be before we can get going again?" I asked.

"I've been told it will take about two days to get the wagons fixed," Ambassador Kroaswell said.

"If we can leave within three days, according to Mage Landyn," added Driton, the convoy master, indicating a man sitting nearby, who waved at the introduction, who was coming along to be the embassy mage, "we should be able to beat out the storm, or at least the worst of it. We should also arrive in Jaana and reasonably set up before their religious festival starts."

"What's the importance of getting set up before this festival starts, anyway?" someone asked, whom I recognized as one of the wagon drivers. "I mean, I've heard about this since we left Toskel, but not as to the reason behind it."

"It should be mentioned that it's not so much the entire festival itself, per se, that is what makes the issue of setting up the embassy quickly such a pressing issue," Ambassador Kroaswell explained, "A part of this particular festival is that the first two days involves a rather complex ceremony that it somewhat limits what kind of activities can go on during that time. And while I'm sure that our hosts wouldn't expect us to observe their religious beliefs – there are, after all, other religions in Andares whose followers aren't expected to observe the protocols in question – it's felt it would be polite to not do anything obvious that goes on against their faith's teachings. It's especially important to remember when one considers that most of the support staff for the embassy, and who will be helping us get set up in the first place, will be coming from the local population, and as such most will be followers of this particular religion."

"So we'll need to leave almost as soon as the wagons are fixed," Driton added. "Everybody will need to stay close by, because we won't be able to afford to wait for you if you aren't. If you don't leave with us, you'll be on your own to catch up."

"Hey, you ever seen a griffin up close before?" Adamaris asked me suddenly.

"No, I haven't," I said. "Not real ones, anyway. Just in drawings and carvings and such."

"C'mon," Deyanira said. "We've actually got three in residence here."

"Yeah, if you think they're great in drawings and carvings," Deyanira added, "wait until you see 'em in person!"

The three girls hopped up, as did I, and they practically dragged me along. I admit I was a somewhat nervous and a somewhat excited at the same time (there went those mixed feelings again!). Griffins were not sentient, like humans, though they were supposed to be very intelligent, as far as creatures went.

We headed outside, and for the first time I managed to get a good look at the building we'd been in. It was one of several buildings built close together. While the internal walls had been boards, the outsides looked like logs had been stacked one upon the other. I'd read somewhere once that such a construction method was often used in certain areas (like the mountains) for durability purposes – the logs on the outside offered protection from the elements better than most other readily available materials, while the boards that lined the inside kept the weather from going through the cracks between the logs.

"Come on, hurry!" Adamaris urged. "This is a good time to see them. They've been up long enough so that they're not still waking up, but not so late that they're restless and ready to be given their daily workouts or allowed to go out and hunt."

I turned my attention to the three girls who were with me. Adamaris was tall (She beat me by a good five inches) and slender, somewhat fair skinned, but with dark, almost raven-black hair going down to the middle of her back, with icy blue eyes. She seemed like the type of person who was accustomed to being, if not the center of attention, then at least near it; she reminded me of the types of folks back home who'd be right in the middle of a group at a party, talking and giggling away.

Jovana was about my height (all right, maybe she was a _bit_ taller than me, but not by much), with shoulder-length flaming bushy red hair, and blue eyes. Her tan skin looked like she spent no small amount of her time out-of-doors, and her lean body spoke of an active lifestyle, the kind of person who was constantly on the move.

Deyanira was about two inches shorter than I was, and, while not exactly fat, was on the stocky side. She had pale skin, auburn hair going to just past her shoulders, and brown eyes that gave her an almost wise look. I could imagine her easily working in the archives.

We quickly arrived at a large building, and I was led inside. I stopped as I took in the interior of the building. It was set up somewhat like the stables I'd seen in Toskel. But that wasn't what caught my attention. There were three griffins standing in there, and they were more amazing that I'd ever imagined.

"Beautiful, aren't they?" Adamaris asked in a somewhat hushed voice.

"They're...amazing," I replied, in an almost equally hushed voice.

One griffin squawked at me, giving a short hop in my direction.

"That's Dore," Deyanira said. "He's the one male of the group. The other two are Cedilla and Tirana." She indicated the two others, staring calmly at us.

The three girls moved closer to Dore, but I hung back. The griffins were a lot bigger than I'd imagined, and my mind was filled with images of them ripping me apart with those long claws of theirs, or snapping through an arm or leg with their beaks.

Jovana noticed that I was hanging back, and called out, "Come on. It's all right. They won't hurt you. Their squawk is _much_ worse than their bite."  
"Yeah, it's just Dore's way of saying he's excited to see us," Adamaris added.

I slowly started taking steps towards them, ready to bolt towards the door at the first sign that the griffins considered me breakfast. I was almost to Dore when I nearly jumped out of my skin as a voice called out, "Well, I see you've brought a new friend."

I looked over to see an old woman coming in. She was a little shorter than I was, with silver-gray hair that flowed down to her waist, and a worn face with more than a few wrinkles.

"Aidan, this is Odalys Quialis," Jovana said. "She helps take care of the griffins. Odalys, this is Aidan Marsatal. He's a part of that caravan we're helping out."

"Hello," I said.

"Hello there, young man," she replied. "Well, you're certainly a handsome one, aren't you? I'll bet these ladies are already fighting over you."

I felt my face go warm, and the girls giggled. I'd certainly never considered myself handsome, and wondered what had prompted Odalys to say that.

"Oh Odalys, don't be silly," Adamaris said in a stern voice, though the smile on her face said that she wasn't really feeling that way. "We just met him. We wouldn't start fighting over him for at least a week, if he was staying that long."

"At least," Deyanira agreed. "We might be able to hold out for two weeks, if he stayed out of sight."

My face grew even warmer, which only served to send the girls back to their giggling. Even Odalys laughed, a raspy, dry-sounding laugh.

"But you're not here to talk about your social lives, are you?" Odalys said. "I'll bet you're here to see the griffins. Come on over, young man."

I hesitantly went over to Dore, and slowly reached out a hand. When my hand touched his side, I stroked his golden feathers. I heard him squawk, and I turned to find that he had turned back to look at me, blinking his large eyes.

"Don't worry," Odalys said. "He's just checking you out."

"Uh, hi," I said to Dore.

After a few minutes, I felt that Dore wasn't going to eat me, and I relaxed a little. At one point, I scratched his crest, and he actually leaned into it. We soon headed back inside, and I was able to sit down and enjoy breakfast. I was ravenous, and everyone seemed to get a chuckle out of how much I ate.

"Now, you've got to remember he's a growing boy," Ambassador Kroaswell said with a smile at one point.

"Boy?!" Kala said sternly.

"Young man," Ambassador Kroaswell corrected himself. "Sorry, Aidan."

"It's all right," I replied, though it came out rather muffled, as I had a roll in my mouth.

Several men came inside at that point and sat down at the table nearest us. They were handed the food dishes, and were quick to dig in. I noticed that they were dressed in work clothes, which were covered in wood shavings, sweat, and soot.

One said, "It looks like we'll be able to get the wagons repaired in time."

"That's good," Ambassador Kroaswell said.

As Ambassador Kroaswell talked with the man over a few things, I noticed that one of the group that had come in wasn't a man at all, but a youth about my age, probably a year or two older than I was. He was kind of good-looking. He noticed me looking at him, and he held up a hand in greeting. I somewhat shyly returned the greeting.

When I finished eating, Ambassador Kroaswell said, "Aidan, perhaps you'd like to take a bath – they do have bathing facilities available here."

I was about to politely decline, but taking a quiet sniff, I decided that it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to accept. After all, I'd last bathed well in Toskel.

"All right," I said, "if it's not too much trouble."

"Oh, not at all," Kala said. "Here, I'll show you where the baths are." We got up, and I followed her down the hall, past the room where I'd been taken the night before. "This will be your room while you stay with us," Kala commented. 

"Your things have already been put in there."

The baths were at the end of the hall, which was two doors down from the room I'd been assigned. I was surprised to find that it was a communal bath, this one being for the guys, while another one nearby was for the ladies. Kala quickly explained how to get water (including hot water, which surprised me; if I had time later, I decided I'd have to ask how they'd managed that) into and out of the tub, and provided me with a towel and soap. I thanked Kala, and when she left, I headed back to my room.

As I grabbing a set of clean clothes, I started realizing that I hadn't played with myself since I'd left Toskel, and having been around the girls with their casual flirtations had left me a bit horny. Quietly I pulled down my pants and underpants and sat down on the bed. I ran a couple of fingers along the side of my already-hard 5 inch dick...and promptly came. I flopped back onto the bed, groaning out in pleasure, as my semen exploded out of the end of my dick.  
Once I recovered from the ejaculation, I sat up from where I'd flopped back onto the bed. Feeling a bit sheepish for some reason, I pulled my underpants and pants back up, grabbed my clothes, the towel, and the soap, and returned to the bathing room. Shutting the door, I started filling a tub, and stripped my clothes off. Getting into the tub, I started washing off.

After scrubbing myself for a while, I laid back, allowing the warm water to soothe me. One of the things that never seemed to get mentioned in all those adventure stories was how sore you could get.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when the door suddenly opened. I glanced over to see one of the men who'd been working on the wagon. He nodded a greeting, and I nodded back, feeling self-conscious as he started filling another one of the tubs. There ought to be no reason for me to be embarrassed (we were both guys, and it wasn't like he was standing there gawking at me), so I didn't really know why I was feeling self-conscious. – after all, it wasn't the first time I'd ever been naked around another guy, and it wasn't like either of us had anything the other didn't.

Once he was in the bath (facing away from me, I noticed; whether this was accidental or if he was purposely giving me as much privacy as the situation allowed I didn't know), I got out of my tub as casually as I could, releasing the plug to allow the water out. Grabbing the towel, I quickly dried off and pulled the clean clothes on. Tossing the towel into the bin Tala had indicated earlier, I grabbed my dirty clothes and headed back into my room, where I stashed the dirty clothes. Heading out, I bumped into the same boy I'd seen earlier.

"Oh, uh, hi," I said. "I'm Aidan Marsatal."

"Hi, I'm Perrin Tussah," he replied, similarly shifting the clothes he was carrying to his own left hand before taking my hand in a firm handshake.

"So, I hope you left some hot water for me," he said with a grin on his face.

"I didn't use it all up, but I'm not so sure about the guy who came in after I did," I said, grinning back.

"Figures," he muttered. "With my luck, it's probably Tamin. He always did hog the hot water."

"Well, I'd better let you go," I said quickly, then mentally cringed, wondering why I'd said it the way I had – it made it seem like I was eager to get away from Perrin.

"All right. See you later," Perrin said.

"Yeah, see you," I replied.


	3. Chapter 3

Most of the next couple of days was spent trying to find things to do while we waited for the wagons to be repaired. There wasn't much to talk about with the others in our group – most of the topics of casual conversation had already been covered while we traveled or sat around the fire each night, and Ambassador Kroaswell had already gone over with me much of what was to be expected from me (because let's face it – there isn't a whole lot to do on a long journey; I also say "much" in regard to what Ambassador Kroaswell's instructions covered because Ambassador Kroaswell admitted that even he couldn't predict everything he might need me to do once we were actually there). I tried to stay out of the way of the residents. They were very nice, but I realized they had their own responsibilities to attend to.

I spent most of the first day looking around. It certainly seemed like a nice place to live. Coming from a city located in a plain, I hadn't had much opportunity to see forests or mountains up close, so it was an interesting area to see. I did spend some time hanging out with Adamaris, Jovana, and Deyanira in the evening. They were rather nice to me, though they tended to flirt outrageously with me.

The morning and part of the early afternoon after lunch of the second day proved to be another bit of a change of scenery. The woman who taught the children in the settlement, Maro Nargiz, asked me to stop by the school to talk to the children about what like in Toskel was like. It was the first time I'd been in a school setting in anything other than a student capacity. The kids asked a lot of questions about what Toskel was like, and what I did. One of the more inquisitive students there was a 9-year-old boy named Keion, who peppered me with all sorts of questions. Jovana helped me out by keeping the more active kids under control, as part of her responsibilities was to help take care of the settlement's younger members.

I had lunch with Jovana. We talked while we ate, telling each other about ourselves (though she did most of the talking, since she already knew a lot about me from when I'd talked to the kids at the school). I found out she had just turned 15 a few days before my 13th birthday, and that while she liked Klodia, she sometimes imagined what it would be like elsewhere. She, Adamaris and Deyanira were all born a few days apart, and had been friends practically for life.  
"I'm a bit jealous of you," she said at one point.

"Of me?" I asked with a bit of a laugh, finding it hard to believe that anyone would be jealous of _me_.

"Yeah," she said. "You've gotten to see Toskel – and not just see it, live there! Oh, what I wouldn't give to see it, just for a few days."

"I don't know if it's all _that_ great," I said. "I mean, sure, it's nice, but Klodia's what really interesting."

Jovana laughed. "Funny how we each think our own home is so ordinary, and how someone else's is what's fascinating." I smiled at that. "Don't get me wrong, she continued, "I love Klodia, and I always will. But sometimes I wouldn't mind being able to travel about and see how other people live."

"The master archivist I'm apprenticed to has a saying," I said. "Be careful what you wish for – you just might get it."

"That's an interesting saying," she said. "But definitely one to remember."

Later that afternoon, I bumped, quite literally, into Perrin as he was coming out of the baths, carrying a set of dirty clothes. "Oh, I'm sorry," I said.

"Hey, no harm done," he said with a grin.

"So," I said after a moment, "how are the wagons coming along?"

"They're practically finished," he said. "A few things need to set overnight, but other than that..."

"Finally," I muttered.

"Gee, so anxious to get away from us already?"

"Um, it's not that..." I started stammering out.

"Hey," he said, laughing. "It's all right. I'll bet you're going crazy with nothing to do around here."

"Oh, you have _no_ idea," I told him.

"Hey, how about I show you a cave system that's nearby?" he asked.

"Uh, sure."

"Hold on, let me just put my stuff away and let them know where we're going."

I figured I should let Ambassador Kroaswell know as well, so I tracked him down and told him what I'd be doing. "All right," he said. "Just be back by evening. The wagons are all but done, and we'll be leaving first thing tomorrow."

I met up with Perrin, who had a pack on his back, and he led me outside. We talked as we walked, and took turns telling each other a little about ourselves. He was a year older than me, had been born and raised in Klodia, and was apprenticed to the carpenters.

We soon arrived at a rocky outcropping, where, after a moment, we were in front of an opening. Perrin produced a torch out of the pack, and after producing a flint, got it going. We then headed into the cave opening, and I got my first look at the inside of a cave. It wasn't quite what I imagined, admittedly. Certainly it wasn't like the stories used to portray caves as being; it was a drab looking small cavern, with no interesting rock formations and one tunnel leading off...somewhere.

"Come on," Perrin said, heading down the tunnel, and I hesitantly followed him. "Watch your head," he called over his shoulder.

I made sure to hunker down to avoid hitting my head on anything. We headed somewhere deeper into the cave, and I wondered for a moment just how large it was. I shuddered as I remembered hearing stories about people who were supposed to be lost in caves, never to be seen again.

After several minutes, the tunnel suddenly opened up, and I drew in a breath. From what I could see in the torchlight, there were many sparkling spots and rock formations throughout, and interestingly shaped stalactites and stalagmites (trying to remember which ones were which).  
"Neat, huh?" Perrin asked.

"Yeah," I replied in a quiet voice. "Wow, this is cool!" a voice suddenly said next to me, and both Perrin and I jumped.

"Keion, what are you doing here?!" Perrin snapped to the small form standing near us.

"I saw you guys heading off, so I followed you to see where you were going," Keion said.

"You shouldn't have done that," Perrin scolded. "We didn't know you were following us. You could have gotten lost or hurt."

"But I didn't!" Keion said, and Perrin sighed and rolled his eyes.

Since Keion was already there, and neither Perrin or I were in the mood to give up our exploring to take him back, we started taking a look around.

"Come on over here," Perrin said after a while, and Keion and I followed him to one side. "Many years ago," Perrin said, "some of the early settlers here explored here to see if they could find any gems or precious metals here."

"I didn't think caves worked that way," I replied.

"They don't, really," Perrin said, "at least not for anything really valuable – though whether they didn't know that at the time or were hoping otherwise, I don't know. You can still see some of the tracks for the carts they used over here."

He led me to a ledge, and I looked down and saw old tracks ending near where we stood, with a boxy cart sitting on them. The tracks led down a tunnel, which I couldn't see very far down in the torchlight. Something apparently caught Keion's eye, as he leaned forward to and peered intently down at something.

"Keion, I don't think that's a good idea..." Perrin started to say. Whatever he was going to say after that was lost when the ledge Keion was on suddenly gave way. I desperately grabbed at him, snatching him by the back of the collar. However, his momentum caused me to fall forward as well.

A moment later, a hand grabbed my arm, and I looked back, relieved to see Perrin holding onto me. Suddenly, the ledge we were all on gave out, and we all tumbled downward.

We all gave out a yelp, and arms flailing we were pitched downward, landing with a collective "Oof!" into the boxy cart, me in the side nearer the entrance to the tunnel. I didn't feel like I'd been seriously hurt, and I began to count my lucky stars when suddenly the cart started moving.

"Uh oh," Perrin said, and I didn't argue.

We began to untangle ourselves as the cart picked up speed. By the time we managed to get apart and sit up, the cart was moving at a good speed, air whipping through our hair. By some miracle the handle of the torch had gotten stuck in some sort of crevice in the cart, so that the end on fire was the end pointing upward. Perrin grabbed it and brought it down into the center of the cart so that it wouldn't go out.

"Uh, Perrin, just how are we supposed to stop this thing?" I asked.

"I think there's supposed to be some sort of brake on this thing. Look for a lever," he replied, and we both began searching around the cart. Fortunately it wasn't like it was hard to find; and I found the wood lever within moments near the front.

"All right, now pull it gently towards me," Perrin directed, and I took a hold of it.

"Here goes nothing," I said, and gently pulled on it.

It snapped off right where it went into the brake system.

"You've got to be kidding me!" I said, my voice squeaking a bit as I looked at the lever now in my hand. After all, that bizarre kind of thing was only supposed to happen in stories!

"Now comes the part where we hold on tight and start praying!" Perrin said.

We held on tight as the cart whizzed along, and several times we went "AAAAAHHHHH!!!" as the cart went through some sharp turn or dip in the track. How the cart remained on the track I didn't know.

I don't know how long we went along. I know the torch finally went out at some point, which made things all the more scary. Finally, the cart started slowing down, and I noticed we were approaching some sort of light. As I rose up onto my knees and grasped the side of the cart we came out into a lit cavern, and suddenly being immersed in light after being in the dark for so long caused me to squeeze my eyes shut as they started watering. I heard a giant splash, and the cart lurched at the same time, water sloshing over the sides and getting my sleeves and pant legs drenched.

"Aw, man!" Perrin said a moment later, a statement that Keion echoed, which led me to think that something similar had happened to them, too.  
The cart started swaying a bit. I slowly opened my eyes, blinking a lot as I started letting them get used to the light. When my eyes had adjusted enough, I looked around.

"Wow," I muttered.

"You could say that again," Perrin replied.

The cave we were in was amazing. There was a pale light in the place that almost seemed to shimmer. While there was sunlight coming from what looked like an entrance in a wall to our left, it didn't seem to account for the amount of light in the cave. Unusual rock and crystal formations were scattered throughout.

I was about to make a comment to Perrin when a voice called out, "Hello out there!"

I started, and I noticed Perrin and Keion jumped as well, while Keion also let out a small yelp. "Uh, hello?" I hesitantly called, looking around to try to figure out where the voice had come from.

"You come from the old tunnel tracks?" the voice replied.

"Yeah, we did," I said. "Uh, out of curiosity, where are you?"

"Oh, sorry. Hold on," the voice said, and moments later I noticed movement near the entrance, and a moment later I saw an old man (although I don't know if it would have been fair calling him "old," since he looked to be about Master Grendan's age, and Master Grendan was a couple of years younger than the younger of my two grandfathers) moving towards the edge of the water, which I only then realized didn't go all the way to the entrance.

"Apologies for staying hidden," he said. "Didn't know who you were at first. Can't be too careful around here."

"Understandable," Perrin said.

"Now, you two can simply walk over here," the old man said. "The water's really not all that deep."

I noticed that the water didn't come up all that high against the cart, so figured that the guy must be telling the truth. And after all, judging by the bow and arrows he was carrying, if he'd really wanted to kill us, he'd have done so by now. Perrin grabbed his pack and got out of the cart, and I followed right behind. I helped Keion out of the cart, and we sloshed over to where the old man was standing.

"Howdy," the man said. "I'm Lachlan Wilbert."

"Hi, I'm Perrin Tussah," Perrin said. "This is Aidan Marsatal, and this is Keion Paskell."

"So, where you two from?" Lachlan asked. "Can't say I've seen you three around here before."

"We're from Klodia," Perrin replied. "Well, Keion and I are from Klodia. Aidan was just passing though. We were checking out the old mines when we fell into the cart, which started moving and wound up bringing us here."

"Well, you're certainly a ways from home," Lachlan said. "Klodia's quite a ways from here."

I felt my stomach drop, and judging from Perrin's expression, he was feeling quite the same. Keion looked scared.

"My parents are gonna kill me," he said quietly, his eyes wide.

"Now don't you three fret," Lachlan said. "I can get you home by tomorrow evening. We'll start out first thing tomorrow morning. Why don't you come back to my place with me for tonight, and we'll get your clothes dried out."

We followed him out of the cave, and he led us to a structure nearby. Lachlan (or somebody, at least) had fixed up parts of it, and he opened the door and gestured us in. This house was not very big, but it had a cozy feel to it.

We pulled our boots off and emptied the water out of them, and went in and found a fire in the fireplace, with a boy, about 10 years old, by the fire, tending to a pot that was hanging over it. Fabulous smells made my stomach rumble.

"Found the place abandoned," Lachlan said, seeing us looking around. "Fixed it up and furnished the place myself."

"Very nice," I said, remembering that my mother had always taught me to be polite to one's host.

"This is my grandson, Jacquez," Lachlan said.

The three of us said "Hi," and Jacquez said "Hi" in return.

"Now, why don't the three of you get out of those wet clothes?" Lachlan said. "Put them over by the fire to dry. It smells like dinner's about ready."

Perrin, Keion, and I pulled our tunics, pants, and socks off (Keion had to pull off his shirt as well), and spread them out by the fire, along with our boots (I was glad our underwear was dry – even though there didn't seem to be any women around, it was awkward enough being in our current state of dress as it was without having to go completely naked). Meanwhile, Lachlan and Jacquez had set a small table with 5 places at the table. We all sat down and had a stew, which I thought was rather good, and some bread. Our drink was the juice of some torriberries, a berry that Lachlan said grew abundantly nearby.

During the meal, Lachlan said that he thought the place must have once been a part of a larger farming complex that had once housed the farm workers. It wasn't the main house of the farm's owners, but he and Jacquez had found it to be in the best condition of the buildings in the area, which is why they'd taken up residence there. I asked why they had chosen to live there, versus going to a settlement like Klodia.

"Sometimes I wonder myself," Lachlan said. "There are times where it'd probably be easier. And maybe someday we will. Right now, we're happy where we are."

We helped with the dishes afterwards, and eventually, Lachlan said he was heading to bed. He told us that there was another bed available in Jacquez's room, and that the room next to it that had a large bed, and that the three of us could work out who got what. We wished him good night, and as he left, the four of us settled down on the floor next to the dying fire for a while.

I was sitting next to Keion, and we were leaning back against an old couch of some sort. After a while, noticing that he looked down, I put my arm around him. "Hey, you all right?" I asked.

"My parents are gonna kill me," he declared softly.

"That's the second time you've said that," I said.

"Well, they are," he insisted. "They always told me to stay out of the caves."

"So why'd you tag along?" I asked.

"I thought we weren't going to be gone very long, so they wouldn't suspect anything."

"Well, there goes that idea," Perrin muttered. "Really, Keion, I know your parents well enough to know they're not really going to kill you, but you do need to think more before you act."

"I know," he said, sounding down.

"Hey, you think that's bad?" I said to Keion. "The others I'm with are moving out tomorrow morning without me. I'm going to have to figure out how to I'm going to catch up with them."

"That's a bummer," Keion muttered drowsily. He'd curled up next to me, his head resting on my chest as his eyes drooped.

"I think it's time we all went to bed," Perrin said, and no one argued.

"Come on, Keion," Jacquez said. "You can stay in my room."

"All right," Keion said, yawning and getting up slowly. The two plodded off to bed, leaving Perrin and me alone.

"Well, I guess that means we get the large bed," I said.

"Guess so," Perrin replied.

We got up and, after I grabbed a candle and holder and lit it, we headed into the bedroom. We found a large bed there, and Perrin crawled in, apparently without giving it a second thought. After a moment, I shrugged, blew out the candle (after placing it on a dresser), and crawled under the covers as well. It wasn't the first time I'd ever slept in a bed with someone else before – Rhys used to crawl into bed with me during thunderstorms when he was younger, but that was in my bed, which had really only been designed for one person, so this would be my first time in a bed with someone who wasn't draped over me (and no, this time wasn't the first time I was sleeping in the same bed with someone when we were in just our underwear, as Rhys and I always slept in our underwear at home, even when he'd get into bed with me).

The unfamiliar settings made it so that it took a while for me to fall asleep. I had a weird dream where I was the only person around who was wearing clothes, and everybody I saw kept asking me why I didn't take them off.

I woke to find that sunlight was streaming through the window. I noticed that I was the only one in bed, so I figured that Perrin was already up. So I got up and plodded into the kitchen area we'd been in the night before. I found everyone else there. Perrin and Keion already had their clothes on, and were sitting at the table munching on fruit.

"'Bout time, sleepyhead," Perrin said with a grin.

"Yeah, 'bout time!" Keion quipped.

I stuck my tongue out at them and went over and grabbed my clothes. They were dry, but wrinkled. After pulling them on, I sat down and started in on some of the fruit in the large bowl that was in the middle of the table.

Lachlan came in a few minutes later. "I've got the horses hitched up to the wagon," he said. "If you're ready to go, we can start."

Perrin, Keion, and I indicated that we were, so we headed outside. Climbing into the wagon, we were soon on our way.

"Hey, thanks for giving us a ride back," Perrin said at one point. "We appreciate it."

"Not a problem," Lachlan said with a shrug. "Besides, I was planning on going into Klodia for a few things anyway, so it's not like I'm going out of my way or anything."

It took longer than I thought it would to get back to Klodia, leaving me to wonder just how long that cart ride had lasted. I refrained from asking "Are we there yet?" since I knew that would just make me sound like a whiny little kid, though it wasn't always easy to keep from saying that.

We finally arrived in early afternoon. We were greeted by several of the adults in town, who, after expressing relief that we were safe, proceeded to scold the three of us for our rather unplanned trip. As I'd suspected, the rest of my caravan had already left, though they'd made arrangements for someone to take me to catch up with them (including leaving one of my packs in my temporary room). They would see about helping me get on my way after assisting Lachlan.


	4. Chapter 4

A couple of hours after arriving back at Klodia, I sat on a large rock outside, feeling a little sad. I certainly hadn't planned on being a burden to these people, and while they had clearly expressed that they didn't mind helping me, that's exactly what I felt like I was. Soon Perrin came over and sat down next too me.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"For what?"

"I didn't intend for you to get separated from your group like that."

"It's not your fault," I told him. "You didn't intend for us to fall into that cart in the cave."

"But still, I can't help but feel I'm responsible for it."

"Don't worry about it," I assured him.

He was about to say something when a bell started ringing. He went a bit pale. "Oh man, of all the times for that to happen!"

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Dore and one of the female griffins are rising to mate!"

"So?"

"Haven't you ever heard of what happens to people who are near griffins who mate?"

"Uh..." I said, then froze as I remembered something I'd heard once. In their mating frenzy, they produced some sort of psyonic resonance that caused humans – particularly guys – for quite a ways around to also have the uncontrollable urge to mate (or at least those who have hit puberty; those children who hadn't started puberty seemed unaffected).

"Yeah," Perrin said when he saw my reaction. "You're gonna want to screw, and hard! I just hope you like girls _that_ way! Come on!" He practically dragged me back to the living area, where there was a commotion going on as people rushed around. He stopped one person – the guy I'd seen in the baths a couple of days before, Tamin – and asked if either of us could help.

"No," Tamin told him. "Just go to your room and get ready." To me, he said, "In case you don't know the drill, just go to your temporary room and take your clothes off. Someone will be with you shortly."

I swallowed hard and nodded before heading off. By "somebody," I knew he meant a girl, the girl I'd wind up having to have sex with while the griffins mated. I wondered who it'd be. With my luck as of late, I'd probably wind up with Odalys. I arrived at the room and went in. Shutting the door, I pulled my clothes off and dropped them next to the pack. I sat nervously on the only chair in the room, waiting for whoever was to come. The door soon opened, and I stood and turned to face who came through it.

It was Jovana.

I felt my cheeks go warm as she entered and shut the door. While I was naked, she was wearing a floor-length blue robe (which, I suppose, made since, as she probably didn't want to parade naked through the hallways from wherever her room was).

She looked me over for a moment before saying, "Hmm, interesting. You're a bit bigger than I thought you'd be."

I was about to stammer out something in reply when a feeling of such horniness came over me that my dick went from soft to hard so fast it hurt. I immediately doubled over from the shock and pain, wrapping my arms around my waist as I stumbled backward for a couple of steps, a sort of "Nnnnnggggghhhhh!" escaping my clenched teeth.

As I stood there, doubled over and breathing hard, a pair of bare legs came into my view. "Oh, you've got it _bad_ , kid," I heard Jovana say. Then a hand grabbed my upper arm, and I was unceremoniously dragged over to where the bed was and shoved onto it. I flopped down onto it, landing on my back, with my suddenly limp arms dangling over the sides.

Suddenly Jovana was on top of me, her boobs pressing into my scrawny chest, and a warm, wet, tight sensation surrounded my dick at about the same time. As I felt her start moving up and down, I realized that the feeling around my dick must have been caused by it entering her pussy. My hips suddenly seemed to develop a mind of their own as they started thrusting up and down, my arms flopping around as my hips started slamming forcefully (and painfully) into hers. I couldn't stop it from happening – I couldn't even slow it down! I wasn't in control of my own body; I felt like I was a spectator who was not only watching an event, but also knowing how one of the participants was feeling. A weird scream echoed in the room, and I wondered why she was screaming before I realized the scream hadn't come from her – it had been ripped from my own throat.

On and on we went, our hips smacking into each other repeatedly as we made grunting and panting sounds and occasional screams. After some unspecified time, I felt the warm wetness sliding up and down my dick start spasming. The small part of my brain that was still working wondered what that was. Jovana let out a long, loud moan while she continued to ride me hard. The spasming went on for a little while before it ended.

But our sex didn't stop there, as our bodies continued to mate. Soon her face, which had been crystal clear earlier, started getting blurry, becoming an oval-shaped flesh-colored blob, and her red hair made it look like it was surrounded by flames, and as she rode me it moved closer to me, then further away, then closer. Sounds became muffled. I felt cold, then hot, then cold.

Then the warm, wet tightness around my dick started spasming a second time, and it was enough to push me over the edge. I cried out as I came and came. But it wasn't like any ejaculation I'd ever felt before. When I was little, I'd gone with my father on an errand to a forge, and I'd seen a pair of smiths pouring liquid metal into a mold. That liquid metal was almost what it felt like was surging through my dick and into Jovana right then.

After what seemed like an eternity, the ejaculation ended. My hips finally stopped their thrusting as my whole body went limp, and Jovana collapsed onto me. We laid there for a while, gasping for breath (which wasn't easy for me, since she was laying on me, and my face was buried in her hair). At one point she even whispered, "Oh, Aidan."

Eventually, she slowly slid off of me, my now-limp dick sliding out of her pussy. I tried to sit up, but a wave of dizziness swept over me. I flopped back down onto the bed as I squeezed my eyes shut. A hand was placed gently but firmly on my chest.

"Shhh," Jovana whispered into my ear as she curled up next to me. "Sleep, Aidan."

And with that, darkness overcame me.

******

I woke slowly, groaning out and promptly wincing at how raw my throat felt. Jovana stirred next to me, her right arm draped over me and her head resting partially on my chest, but she didn't wake. I found that someone – Jovana? – had put a blanket over the two of us at some point after I'd passed out. I carefully got myself out from under Jovana and then slid out from under the blanket, and sat on the edge of the bed. I wondered just how long I'd been out. A glance out the room's small window showed that the sun was just coming up over the eastern horizon. Wow – I'd been out for more than half a day!

I was rather horrified by what had happened. Sure, it wasn't like it was my fault or anything – I had no control over my actions, forced into the mating frenzy by the griffins. But still, this isn't how I'd ever intended to make out with a girl for the first time. Plus, how would Jovana feel about me after what had happened. I thought we were becoming friends, but would she still want to be friends with me after what had happened?

I decided to head into the communal room, but an accidental whiff of my armpit made me decide to go to the baths first. I pulled a set of clean clothes out of my pack. Poking my head out of the door and noticing that there was no one around, I quickly dashed naked into the baths. Filling a bath with water as hot as I could stand it, I climbed in. I washed myself off, then soaked until the water was cool. Getting out and drying myself off, I got dressed, wincing as I fastened my pants over bruised hips. When I was fully dressed, I headed towards the communal room. I entered the communal room, and found a few of the adults there already, clustered around one table.

"Hey, Aidan, come on over," Tamin called out, and I headed over and sat down with them.

"Here, this should help your throat," Kala said, pouring something out of a pitcher into a glass and handing it to me. "I imagine your throat feels a little sore right now."

I took a swallow, and the soreness in my throat subsided. "A little," I admitted.

"I'll bet," Tamin said. "I have the room next to yours, and we could hear you two in there practically as clearly as if we were all in the same room. So, who'd you get to be with?"

"Jovana," I said.

"She's a nice one to be with your first time, I hear," Tamin said.

"Yes, she's always been good about that," Kala said.

I felt my face go warm. To hide my reddening cheeks, I drank more of the beverage, a juice of some sort, and under Tamin's prodding took a plate and took some of the food on the table.

After a few minutes of silent eating, I had a question nagging at me. "Hey, I have to ask something," I finally said. "What happens if Jovana gets, y'know..." I felt my face go warm again.

"Pregnant?" Kala asked.

"Yeah," I replied sheepishly.

"Not likely," Kala said with a shrug. "For some reason, even though you'd think we'd be popping out babies like crazy, it just doesn't seem to happen much."

I mentally heaved a sigh of relief. With all that they had done for me, the last thing I wanted to do was leave one of the girls here pregnant.

"Now," Tamin said, "give us a couple of hours and we'll have you on your way. I imagine you're anxious to get out of here."

"Not to be rude or anything," I said with a weak smile, "but, yeah."

"Oh, man," I heard a familiar voice come from the entryway, "that was something!" Perrin stumbled in and plopped himself near me.

"Long night?" Tamin asked with a grin.

Perrin, pouring himself a glass of the juice, glared at Tamin for several moments before taking a long drink. "For once," Perrin then muttered, "I'd like to make out with someone other than Deyanira. I mean," he added to me, "don't get me wrong – she's nice and all, but I've banged her every mating flight since I was eleven! I'd like a little variety. Jovana, maybe."

"Except Jovana was with Aidan yesterday," Tamin said, grinning at Perrin. "I suppose you both could have done her at the same time, but that would have been a bit...awkward."

"You lucky dog," Perrin muttered at me. Jovana came in at that moment, which at least distracted everyone from another round of blushing on my part. Perrin stared longingly at her as she took a glass of the juice as well.

"Hey, missed you yesterday, Jovana," said a guy who looked to be about 18.

"Can't imagine why," she replied.

"I'm sure you missed having a repeat performance of the last two mating flights. I'm sure you remember them – you spent them with me, after all."

"Oh, please," she said as she flashed him a sweet smile as she sat down a couple of tables over. "Aidan's much better in bed than you are. I had two orgasms with him, and that's two more than I ever had with you."

The room erupted with laughter and whistling, and a couple of the guys patted me on the back. My face felt so warm by that point I'm surprised it didn't catch on fire. I quickly finished breakfast and hurried out, avoiding glancing in Jovana's direction the entire time.

True to his word, within an hour Tamin informed me that things were ready for me to leave. After telling Perrin good-bye, I headed to the stables with my pack as I was directed to do so to find Tamin there making a few minor adjustments to two saddled horses.

"Almost ready," he said when he saw me. He helped me get my pack secured to one of the two horses; he explained that we'd be riding horses, rather than using a wagon, since they'd be faster without the wagon, allowing us to catch up to my caravan.

Just as I was about to get into the saddle (fortunately, I did know a little bit about riding horses, having received a bit of training as part of my archivist training), I heard a voice call out, "Aidan." I looked in the direction of the voice and saw Jovana coming my way.

"I have to check on a couple of things real quick," Tamin said when he noticed her. "I'll be right back."

After he left, Jovana came over and stood in front of me. After several moments of awkward silence, she said, "So, you're on your way."

"Yeah."

"Take care of yourself, Aidan," she said.

"You too."

"I hope that what happened yesterday hasn't changed anything," she said softly.

I blushed, but said, "No, it didn't. If it had to be anybody here, I'm glad it was you."

I stuck my hand out for her to shake, but instead of taking it she took my face in her hands and gently kissed me – right on the lips!

After she broke off the kiss, she said, "If you ever get tired of life in Toskel..."

"Klodia _is_ a nice place to be," I managed to say, "and on my way back to Toskel, I'll see about stopping in."

"Take care," she said before turning to leave.

"Take care," I called after her.

******

It took the better part of two days to catch up with the caravan. When we finally reached them, they were about to set up camp for the night near a stream. I was greeted enthusiastically, and while there was a bit of annoyance and a bit of lecturing about being more responsible when I told them what happened, no one seemed too put out with me.

Tamin stayed the night with us before heading back to Klodia the next morning with the two horses. I returned to my usual spot in Ambassador Kroaswell's wagon. Fortunately, no more noticeable delays cropped up during our trip (though a couple of days after I met back up with the caravan, we did wind up on the edge of the storm, but fortunately we only got rained on a little bit).

We arrived in Jaana on schedule, and when we headed into the city (presumably we'd be going directly to the embassy), I looked around a lot as we moved through the streets. I hadn't been out of Toskel much before, so my experience seeing other settlements of any sort was rather limited. The architecture was somewhat different in Jaana than in Toskel (or even Klodia, from what I'd seen of it), though adults still went about their business, while kids still raced around, playing various games – that was certainly the same in every community I'd ever seen. People did occasionally watch us go by; I wondered how many of them wondered who we were. I waved a few times at some of the friendlier-looking people, and they waved back.

It was late afternoon when we arrived at a gate in a large wall. Driton produced a set of keys on a large iron ring, one of which he used to unlock the gate, and the wagons were moved inside to a large, open court. I glanced around at what I assumed could only be the embassy, and saw several buildings of various sizes. I got out of the wagon, as did Ambassador Kroaswell and quite a few of the others, several of who had been on the embassy staff the last time the embassy had been operational.

We were taken inside the largest building (Ambassador Kroaswell keeping a hand on my shoulder as we went about), with one of the people who'd been a senior member of the staff from before taking us on a tour of the building, showing us the offices, reception areas, both the main dining hall (used for formal banquets) and a smaller dining hall near it (used for day-to-day dining by the embassy staff), kitchen, living quarters, storage areas, and the few other odds and ends rooms that made up the building. I was surprised to find the furniture still around, and when I said so I was told that it was felt back when the last ambassador was recalled, that since there was no reason to believe that the embassy would be closed permanently, so most of the larger stuff within (barring the personal belongings of those who lived there and certain embassy valuables) was left there, with the local Skronian garrison keeping an eye on the place to keep vandals and homeless squatters out.

Hearing back outside, the man pointed out other locations of note within the walls, such as the stables, garden area, and even a small forge (though the forge wouldn't be in use, at least not for a while).

When the tour was over, I made sure that Ambassador Kroaswell was settled into the large foyer in the main building, then went back outside to help unpack the wagons (I was primarily responsible for making sure that both my stuff and Ambassador Kroaswell's got into our respective bedrooms; he, naturally, got the largest bedroom there, while I got a smaller room right next door, in a setup that must have been done purposely when the building was originally constructed). That night, when we had dinner that night, we ate from what remained of our trail food supply (I was a little disappointed, as I was hoping for fresh food and a little more variety, though I was assured that whomever was responsible for keeping the embassy stocked with food would obtain more, fresher food from the local supplies the next day). I went to bed that night and got into a bed larger than my own at home, though not quite as big as the one Perrin and I shared in Lachlan's home. I stared out the small window for a while, wondering what my family and friends were doing, before falling asleep.

Most of the next few days involved working to get things set up. While most of the larger things had been left, there were various other things that needed to be set up, though not until after a good deal of cleaning (since the embassy had been closed down for more than a decade, there was no small amount of dust and cobwebs to remove). Fortunately, we got a lot of help from the locals; several of them had worked at the embassy the last time it was operational. They were also willing to vouch for several people who would fill out the remainder of the support staff. The guards would be supplied at first by the local garrison, and a small unit of Skroninan troops, part of a larger force on maneuvers in the south with some of Andares's forces, would be arriving to take over permanent guard duty in the near future.

I was largely responsible for helping make sure the things that Ambassador Kroaswell would need got set up to his specifications – while he handled the stuff in his bedroom mostly himself (once he got the layout of the bedroom down), I helped get certain specific things like his office set up.

Most of my evenings, after the work for the day was done, I spent looking out over the city. I'd found the staircase that led to the roof, and I spent my time looking out and about. I noticed we were near the palace, and a small part of my mind wondered when we'd go and meet the king for the first time.

The evening before the festival was to start, I spent a little time on the roof, and then decided to take a walk around the embassy grounds. I had to admit I was feeling a little lonely. While getting things set up during the day kept me busy, there wasn't really anyone around my own age, and I wasn't sure I could just poke my head outside of the embassy and start grabbing every kid my own age I could find and expect them to be my friend (I wasn't even sure what the policy was about leaving the embassy and interacting with the local population, or at least those who didn't work in the embassy).

Lost in though, I bumped into someone coming out of the stables. "Oh, I'm sorry," I quickly said to the person.

"No, it is I who should be sorry," came the reply. "I wasn't looking where I was going."

I looked over the person I'd run into. It turned out to be a guy about my age, looking, like Perrin, to be about a year or two older than me, and was of the Tehari ethnic group.

The Tehari were indigenous to this part of the continent, and had lived in tribes prior to the expansion of nations by other ethnic groups from the south and west a few hundred years before. They had incorporated well into the ensuing societies rather well, but still often worked to maintain a certain level of native pride and distinctiveness.

Since he was Tehari, he had the somewhat darker, rather tan-looking skin, black, straight hair that fell just past his shoulders, and dark brown eyes that was inherent to the ethnicity. He was about 6 inches taller than I was, and he had a lean, somewhat muscular build. He wasn't what I'd call handsome, but then, he wasn't what I'd consider ugly either. But for some reason, some strange, unsteady feeling I'd never felt before washed over me, and my stomach felt like it had butterflies in it.

After an awkward moment of silence, in which he looked almost as unsettled as I'd felt, he stuck his hand out and said, "Hello, I'm Denali Huritt. I'm one of the stable hands."

"Aidan Marsatal," I said, taking his hand in mine and shaking. "I'm currently the aide to Ambassador Kroaswell."

"Wow, that must be something," he said. "Why 'currently,' though? You aren't going to stay Ambassador Kroaswell's aide?"

"I'm not," I told him. "Normally, I'm an apprentice archivist in Toskel, but Ambassador Kroaswell's regular aide isn't going to be available for several months, so I was asked to fill in for him until he's able to make it here."

"Ah, I see." After a few moments, he asked somewhat hesitantly, "So, since we're both going to be here a lot, maybe you'd like to hang out with me once in a while after our duties are done?"

"Sure, I'd like that," I said. Despite the fact that I was feeling really weird around him, he seemed really nice, and I _had_ just been mentally complaining about how I didn't have anyone my own age to hang out with around here.

"All right," he said. "Well, I'd better get back to work. There are a few things to get done before the stables are ready for regular use."

"Well, I won't hold you any longer," I said. "See you."

"See you."


	5. Chapter 5

I laid in bed that night, wondering why I'd felt so weird around Denali. I'd certainly never had that kind of reaction around anyone before. The feelings I was having towards him were bizarre. It was actually kind of creeping me out.

The next morning, Ambassador Kroaswell met with those of us who'd traveled with him from Skronia, and went over a few basic rules about how to behave during the festival. While the local people knew that we were there, and would likely not expect us to observe all their protocols, Ambassador Kroaswell still wanted us to make a good impression on them by showing that we were respectful of their beliefs. The stuff he mentioned didn't seem too major, so I figured that it wouldn't be too hard to follow – after all, most of it was various forms of outward action that would only occur outside the embassy walls, and since my only job of note in the embassy was to help Ambassador Kroaswell, who wouldn't be doing any of the actions in question during that time period (or at least not where it'd be obvious to the locals...).

At lunch, I spotted Denali already seated in the general dining room (which was used just by those of us who worked there in the embassy), and he spotted me at about the same time. He motioned me over, and after I grabbed some lunch I headed over and sat down next to him.

"So, how are you liking things so far?" he asked.

"It's all a bit different," I replied.

"I can imagine," he said. "I'm not from here originally, either, so I know what it's like to be far from home."

We told the other about ourselves. He had just turned 15 a month and a half before. We talked about our families; he had one older brother, 17-year-old Halian. Their father was dead, killed in a mine cave-in just over a year ago. We also talked about what it was like growing up in our respective homes.

He was surprised that I seemed so familiar with some of the things that he mentioned. "How do you know so much, Aidan?" he asked with a laugh at one point.

"I guess I just read a lot," I replied a bit awkwardly. "As an archivist, I'm supposed to be familiar with a lot of things so that I can know where to look for things that might be needed to begin with, and sometimes things are a little slow in the archives, so there isn't much else to do but read."

Denali laughed again, in a way I found strangely pleasant. "You're something else, Aidan."

I shrugged. "I'm just the way I am, I guess," I replied.

As I finished eating, I couldn't help but notice Mage Landyn staring at Denali and me, and realized that he had been for a little while. I wondered what that was about, but figured it was probably some sort of weird, mystical mage thing and left it at that.

******

The two days didn't see too much action, and I actually spent most of the time organizing my room and small desk (yes, an actual desk of my very own!), and helping Ambassador Kroaswell get things positioned in his office so that he could easily move around on his own. I spotted Denali a couple of times as I went into meals, and we sat together. For some strange reason, I still felt butterflies in my stomach, though not as bad as when I first met him.

Heading outside one evening after dinner on the third day, I found Denali outside. "Oh, there you are!" he said, a big grin appearing on his face. "I was hoping to find you!"

"You were looking for me?" I asked, then mentally kicked myself. That was certainly a dumb thing to say!

"Yeah," he said. "You want to come out to the celebrations? The religious ceremonies are over, which means festival!" He was practically giddy with excitement.

"Uh, sure," I said, as the strange, butterflies-in-my-stomach feeling that I'd felt to some extent every time I talked with Denali washed over me again. What was wrong with me?!

I noticed he was staring quizzically at me, and I quickly said, "Just let me check in real quick so that they know where I'll be."

"Right," he said.

I headed back inside, and found Ambassador Kroaswell. I told him what I wanted to do, and he quickly gave his consent.

"It's good to see you making friends already," he said.

I nodded, then quickly said, "Uh, yes, Sir," when I remembered he was blind. I headed into my room for a moment to grab my money pouch, glad that apprentices got paid anything at all, even if it wasn't much (it wasn't always that way; as recently as when my grandfather was a boy, apprentices hadn't gotten paid anything at all). I then headed out to meet up with Denali

"Let's go!" he said with a grin. "Come on, I know just where to start."

We headed off. I followed him off, wondering where he was headed. I followed him to what looked like a local marketplace, though it was an area that was decorated very fancily at the moment. Quite a few activities were going on, and quite a few stalls were set up selling a variety of items ranging from food to jewelry to fancy, colorful clothing. Several people greeted Denali, and he greeted them in return.

Denali practically dragged me over to where several others our age were playing a game involving hoops and small leather balls. When they saw us, several enthusiastically called out Denali's name and beckoned us over with calls of "Come join us!" After Denali greeted them, he introduced me, and I was welcomed with practically as much enthusiasm as Denali has been greeted with.

Denali explained to me how to play the game, called 'Galtro temori' in the Tehari language (which, shockingly, translated into 'hoops and balls'). It didn't take long for me to grasp the rules, but took a little while for me to really do anything. Denali, with a bit of a laugh done in a way that let me know he wasn't laughing at me, said that the game did take a bit of practice, and that odds were the others (who all made it look so easy) had probably been playing it since they could walk.

While I had eaten earlier, Denali hadn't, so we headed over to the food stalls, where Denali bought himself some food. Thirsty from the exertion of the game, I got something to drink, and Denali and I headed over to a group of nearby benches and took a seat on an empty bench. Denali insisted that I try some of the Tehari food he'd gotten, and though I wasn't really hungry, I did try a few, just to be polite. I thought the last dish I tried, chicken with some sort of sauce on it, had an interesting flavor. I turned to Denali to ask what it was called when the sensation of fire practically exploded in my mouth. I gasped and fumbled around for the drink I'd gotten, tears streaming down my face.

Denali, laughing, handed me part of a roll and said, "Here, actually this will work better."

I grabbed it and shoved it into my mouth. The fiery sensation immediately subsided. I swallowed and took a drink.

"What was that?" I gasped out, my eyes still watering.

"Tehari fire chicken," Denali said with a grin. "Named for obvious reasons." He then took a bite of a piece of it. "Admittedly, it's something of an acquired taste," he said calmly after swallowing.

"Obviously," I muttered, the aftereffects of the fiery sauce still lingering in my mouth as I took a big swallow of my drink.

"Hey, there's a play about to start," he said just as we finished eating, indicating a nearby temporary outdoor 'theater' had been set up. "Let's go see it."

I shrugged. "All right," I said.

The play, a comedy, wound up being better than I though it'd be, and I snickered in a few places in spite of myself. After it was over, I got up and stretched a bit. I noticed that the sky had gotten completely dark, the only light being from torches lit at various locations along the marketplace and surrounding streets.

"Well, I think it's time to call it a night," Denali said, stretching as well. I looked at the sight of his body stretching like that, and found myself getting an erection.

"Yeah," I admitted, stifling a yawn to cover my embarrassment over my body's reaction to Denali's stretching.

As we walked back to the embassy, Denali said, "So, what'd you think?"

I considered for a few moments. "I think that I enjoyed myself," I admitted. "Thanks."

"Not a problem," he told me. "Thanks for coming along. It was nice to be able to go with someone for a change. Most years I just go by myself."

"You don't ever go with your brother?" I asked, surprised.

"We did a couple of times, right after we moved here, but after our dad died, Halian went to work to help bring in money, and we just never had the opportunity to be available at the same time, especially after I started working, too."

"That's a bummer," I said.

We soon arrived at the embassy, and the guards, recognizing us, waved us through.

"See you tomorrow, Denali," I said.

"See ya, Aidan," he replied.

******

Eventually the festivals came to an end, and life in Jaana returned to its normal routine. Preparations were now in full force for a formal reception to be held at the embassy, which would be held after Ambassador Kroaswell had his first meeting with King Osvaldo.

When the time came to have the meeting with the king, I dressed in my best clothes and met up with Ambassador Kroaswell, where we, headed down to the stables. A carriage had been procured for official transportation to formal events that Ambassador Kroaswell would be expected to attend outside the embassy, and it was waiting for us outside, along with the two others who would be in our group – Mage Landyn and Tinalla Castor, the embassy chief of staff, as well as a detail of 6 guards who would be escorting us.

I noticed Denali working in the stables, and when he looked up and saw me, he stopped what he was doing and just stared at me. I felt a twinge in my stomach as well.

I was snapped out of my daze when Driton said, who was now in charge of the stables and would be serving as the carriage's driver, said, "We're ready."

As Ambassador Kroaswell and the others began getting into the carriage, I shook my head to clear it. It was then that I noticed that Mage Landyn had been staring at me, and I wondered why he was looking at me. I glanced around and noticed that the only person on the opposite side of me from Landyn was Denali. It was rather weird, since I'd noticed that Landyn had been doing that (staring at Denali and me whenever we were together) several times. As with the first time I'd spotted him doing that, I figured it was just some mage thing, and so I mentally shrugged and got into the wagon.

We headed out into the city, heading towards the palace. Arriving, we were escorted past a checkpoint at the outer wall, where we were directed to an inner courtyard. Getting out, I noticed several people in official-looking clothing coming towards us. Ambassador Kroaswell evidentially heard them as well, since he turned in their direction.

"Ambassador Kroaswell?" the man in the lead said when they reached us. Ambassador Kroaswell nodded, and the man continued. "Good day. I am Viturin Alfanto, His Majesty's majordomo."

"Good day, Sir," Ambassador Kroaswell, holding a hand out, and the two men shook.

"Please, come this way," Viturin said. "His Majesty is anxious to meet you."

As part of getting things set up, Ambassador Kroaswell and I had discussed how I was to help him move around unfamiliar areas in formal situations, and so I knew what to do. I quietly moved up to where he was, and he placed a hand gently on my arm before we followed Viturin. We were led inside, and went down several very ornately decorated hallways before arriving at a giant set of doors, what I assumed was the entrance to their Great Hall.

"Please wait here for a moment," Viturin said before heading through a side door.

I glanced around, thinking that while some things looked the same as in the palace in Toskel, some things looked very different. Among the differences was that here, there were a few depictions of nude individuals discretely place about in the form of various items of artwork, and I blushed slightly, especially when I felt my body start to respond to the images. I tried to think of other things to keep myself from getting any more aroused than I already was, and started glancing around at other things in the area.

At one point, I noticed that there was a man in ordinary-looking clothing nearby, looking to be doing a bit of repair work on a hole in the wall. It didn't seem unusual under the circumstance, given the apparent age of the palace, and the guy certainly seemed very capable at his job. What attracted my attention to him were two things. The first was the crescent-shaped scar on his cheek, and the second was that he wore about as irritated-looking an expression as I've ever seen on anyone's face, and every so often he'd glare in our direction, and he'd actually manage to scowl more. I had to wonder what _his_ problem was.

Just then, Viturin returned. "His Majesty will see you now," he said to us

Two guards held open the giant doors, and we entered into the Great Hall and approached the two thrones at the other end. Seated upon one throne was King Osvaldo, and next to him was seated a woman who was as ornately dressed as he was, and I assumed that she must be his wife, the Queen. There were several other individuals arranged around them, who I figured must be various officials. We reached the thrones and bowed.

Viturin stepped forward. "Your Majesty, may I present to you His Excellency Omarion Kroaswell, ambassador from the kingdom of Skronina."

"Good day, Mr. Ambassador" King Osvaldo said in a baritone voice. "It is good to be able to finally meet you in person. My cousin, Duke Rayan, has always spoken highly of you."

I figured that this Duke Rayan must have been the cousin of the king that Ambassador Kroaswell had inadvertently saved all those years ago at the cost of his own sight.

"Good day, Your Majesty," Ambassador Kroaswell replied. "It is good to be here, and I bear unto you the greetings and good tidings of His Majesty, King Quillan of Andares."

King Osvaldo smiled, and said, "I am grateful that King Quillan was receptive to my overtures, Mr. Ambassador. I look forward to being able to maintain better relations with my counterpart in Andares. We've allowed things to go unsaid between us for far too long, I'm afraid."

"Hopefully we will be able to rectify that, Your Majesty," Ambassador Kroaswell replied.

They exchanged a few other pleasantries, and King Osvaldo introduced his wife, Queen Kalena, his prime minister, Arapeta Glaina, and his senior court mage, Mage Balkaran, whom we politely acknowledged. Ambassador Kroaswell then introduced us.

We discussed a few more pleasantries, then got down to a bit of business. There were several issues that either the king or Ambassador Kroaswell (who had presumably been briefed more fully by King Quillan prior to our departure) that would need to be addressed in the near future. A couple of issues were quickly cleared up, and the two made agreements for meetings to be held in the near future to address the other issues.

We soon wrapped up the meeting, and were escorted back out to the carriage by Viturin, which we entered for our return to the embassy.

******

Standing outside the Great Hall, I noticed a bunch of naked teenagers, lounging around, the guys sporting erections

Viturin was seated at his desk, looking not the least bit fazed at all the nude people around us. "What can I say?" he said to me with a casual shrug. "Some of our people are perverts."

"That's all right," I heard a familiar voice say, and I turned to see Denali come up to stand beside me. "Aidan's a pervert, too." Turning to me, he said, "Aren't you, Aidan?"

I tried to say something, but when I opened my mouth, nothing came out. It probably had something to do with the fact that Denali was stark naked himself.

"Don't act so surprised, Aidan," he told me. "After all, I'm just following the current dress code."

That's when I realized I was naked, too. Denali reached out and started fondling me, and a huge column of while liquid appeared between us as a blast of semen erupted like a geyser out of the end of my dick.

I sat up, and was disoriented for a moment before I realized I was in my bed in the embassy. I shifted, and that's when I felt the wet sensation in my underpants. I felt my face grow warm as I realized I'd just had a wet dream. My dad had told me about wet dreams, but I'd never had one before. While I knew that it was nothing to be ashamed of, it was still a bit startling, made all the more horrifying by the fact that it was about Denali.

I got up and, noticing that the sun was starting to rise over the horizon, stripped off my now-dirty underwear and took a quick bath out of the water basin in my room before getting dressed. At breakfast, I noticed Denali was already there with his breakfast, so I grabbed some breakfast and sat down next to him.

"Hey," I said to him.

His mouth full, he nodded in return. We ate in silence for a bit. As he finished the last of his breakfast, I said, "Can I ask you something?"

He paused for a moment before saying, "Wow, didn't give me much of a choice there, did you?" I noticed a smirk growing on his face.

"Cute," I muttered. "Real cute. Anyway, I was wondering something…and don't take this the wrong way or anything, but…well, when Ambassador Kroaswell and I were leaving to go to our meeting with King Osvaldo yesterday, I couldn't help but notice that you were staring at me."

Denali's eyes widened as he stiffened for just a moment, and if I hadn't been looking right at him at the moment, I might have missed it. "Oh, um, well, I don't, uh, think that I'd, um, ever seen you dressed up like that before," he managed to get out. "You looked, uh, good."

"Uh, thanks," I said, wondering what was going on. I had never seen Denali seem to be at a loss for words before. He always seemed to be so at ease when having a conversation with people that at times I thought he'd make a better ambassador's aide than I would.

"Look, I hate to eat and run," he said, "but I've got a bunch of things to do in the stables."

"All right," I said, a bit disappointed but knowing that, with the formal opening of diplomatic relations, I now had a lot of things to do myself, and that sitting around for long periods of time having a leisurely breakfast was probably a thing of the past. "See you around."

"Yeah, later," Denali said.


	6. Chapter 6

I spent most of the next couple of days helping get things prepared for a formal reception that we would be having at the embassy for King Osvaldo. It kept me away from anywhere where Denali was, at least during those times in which he was there. I, gratefully, didn't have any more wet dreams, about Denali or anyone else.

On the third day, final preparations were underway, which aside from the food perpetrations really just involved a few minor touchups on the furniture setups and decorations.

At one point I was in the main dining hall, checking over a couple of things at the request of Ambassador Kroaswell when I noticed someone working with the food setup that looked a bit out of place. A moment later I recognized him as the same man I'd seen fixing the wall at the palace. It struck me as a bit odd, because while I knew that we'd brought in a few new people as temp labor, it seemed odd that this guy would have the skills to handle assisting large-scale food preparation. It wasn't impossible, I admitted, but the two areas I'd seen him working in didn't seem to normally go together.

Since I'd just finished up checking on the things I'd been directed to, I decided to keep an eye on the guy. So I tried to make it look like I was inspecting some small item or another, and when he left the room (moving in the opposite direction from the kitchen, where he should have been going if he really was working in that area, I couldn't help but notice) I quietly followed him. Soon we started going into an area that we hadn't opened up, and a moment later I remembered why – this was the quarters where our own troops would live while they were stationed here on guard duty. (The local troops who were providing guard duty were staying in their own barracks.)

I turned a corner, and just about ran into Denali. "Aidan, what…" he got out before I put a hand over his mouth. There was a strange tingling in my hand, but I ignored it. Grabbing Denali, I pulled him back to a point where I felt the guy I was following couldn't see us, and in a whispered voice, I explained to Denali what was going on.

"Are you sure?" Denali whispered back. "I think I know the guy you're talking about. I saw him come in with the temp kitchen workers. Most people around here hold more than one job…"

"Yeah, but what are the odds that a guy who repairs walls moonlights as a caterer? It's not like there's a lack of good-paying work in his normal field around here for any halfway decent craftsman, from what you've told me. I saw him at work in the palace, and he seems quite good. Now, come on before we lose him."

We headed back towards where I'd last seen the guy headed. When we reached an intersection in the corridor, we looked around but didn't see him, and I didn't know which way we should go. Denali put a hand on my arm and raised his other hand to put a finger on his lips before pointing down one direction, where I could make out a faint light coming from under one door.

I looked up at Denali, and he nodded. We crept towards the door, and quickly arrived. We could hear voices, but couldn't clearly make them out. Denali glanced around for a moment, then pulled me towards the next door over. We slipped into the room, and even though the corridor was already dim, it still took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the room's darkness. Denali went over to the wall separating the two rooms, and I followed him over. There were a few small gaps in the walls, probably from the years of neglect from when the embassy stood vacant that nobody had bothered to get fixed yet, that the light from the room in which the stranger had gone into shown through. Denali moved to one, and I moved to another. The holes weren't big enough to get any sort of view into the other room, but they were big enough for us to listen in.

"Yes," someone said in a gruff voice, just like in the adventure stories I used to read, "but are we sure this is the time to strike?"

"There might not be a better time," someone replied. "As long as they're hiring temp workers and new employees, we have as good a chance as we're ever going to have to slip some of our people in here. Their own troops are going to arrive soon, and I hear they're bringing enough of their own support staff that only the locals who can provide good credentials or who can have the original embassy staff members vouch for them will continue to be employed here. There won't be any other time to get anybody else into position, especially not for formal functions."

"Look, Lorik, Ganix is right. This is the best time to strike," said a third. "Once the reception has begun, I'll make sure that the escape route is kept open, you'll make sure the horses are ready, and Ganix will mingle with the servers. When he sees a chance, he will throw his knives at that farce of a king. In the ensuing panic, we flee and collect our pay. I trust you have the tralfax, Ganix?"

"Yes. It wasn't cheap, but I got enough."

"All right, let's go."

We heard them leave at the same time the light was moved out the door, and we waited for a moment. "What do we do?" I said quietly.

"Simple – we have to tell someone."

"You think they'll believe us?"

"They'll have to."

Denali poked his head out the door, and then signaled for me to follow. We headed to Ambassador Kroaswell's office and knocked. "Come in," we heard him call out, and we headed in. We found him meeting with Tinalla and Landyn.

"Sir, Denali and I have something we need to tell you," I said. I told him about the man I'd seen in the palace, how Denali and I had followed him, and the conversation we'd overheard. When I got through, there was silence in the room.

"I know this is a bit hard to believe," I said, "and we don't really have any proof…"

"No," Ambassador Kroaswell said, holding up a hand. "While I admittedly don't know Denali, I know you, Aidan. This isn't something you'd make up. And there was one thing that you did mention that helps validate what you said, and leads me to believe you aren't making it up or misunderstanding anything."

"What's that, Sir?"

"You mentioned tralfax," he replied. "Even though you're an archivist by training, I'm still sure that you've probably never heard of it before."

"I haven't," I admitted.

"Yes, and I'd be surprised if you had. It's a very little-known and extremely rare poison. I've only heard of it by chance myself. It's made from the venom of a poisonous snake long believed to be extinct. It is extremely potent, and even a very small amount, when introduced into the body, through, say, a cut, can be fatal within a day. There is no known cure."

"So, the question is, now that you know we're telling the truth, what do we do?" Denali asked.

"Right now, we wait," Ambassador Kroaswell calmly replied. When Denali and I made startled explanations of protest, he held up a hand. "Hear me out, young ones. Right now, they don't know we are aware of what they're up to, and that is our greatest advantage. We must keep in mind that we are operating with only a limited amount of information, since we only know what one of the three looks like, and we aren't aware if they might have other coconspirators in here to help out in case something goes wrong with their plan. We shall quietly prepare by first notifying the captain of the guard. He is undoubtedly far more familiar with how to address such issues than we are, or at least knows how to contact those who do. We will then follow his advice."

We nodded, seeing that Ambassador Kroaswell was right.

"I can also see about putting up some basic wards around the king," Landyn said. "They might not do too much against a direct attack, at least not without being visible enough for even a non-mage to see, but they couldn't hurt."

"Good idea," Ambassador Kroaswell said. "Fortunately, the captain of the guard is to arrive here in a few minutes for a meeting with me to go over the final security arrangements, so it will not seem suspicious that he is here at this time."

A few minutes later the captain of the guard, Captain Tomicka, arrived, and Ambassador Kroaswell filled him in on what had happened. Captain Tomicka then asked Denali and me a bunch of questions about the men – what the one we saw looked like, what they sounded like, whether we were sure as to what they said.

"All right," Captain Tomicka finally said, "I have a few ideas. I'll tell a few of my most trusted men to keep an eye out for the man you described. We'll also keep an eye out for his two accomplices. We know at least one of the three has the responsibility of keeping their getaway horses ready so they can flee at a moment's notice, so I'll also tell my people to keep an eye open for anyone who's not part of the normal stable staff who seems to be spending an unusual amount of time around at least three horses."

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Ambassador Kroaswell asked.

Captain Tomicka turned to me. "You're Ambassador Kroaswell's aid, right?" he asked me.

"Yes, Sir," I said quickly.

"So you'll be with him, and won't be in a position to move around too much outside of the main dining hall, but in there, we'll need you to keep your eyes open for the man you saw. We don't know if he will be the one to attempt to assassinate His Majesty, but we don't know he isn't. I'll be in there myself, so should you see him, let me know as soon as you can without attracting attention."

He then turned to Denali and asked, "You're with the stable staff, right?"

"Yes, I am," Denali said.

"I'll need you to help keep an eye on things there. Even though you didn't see the man Aidan did, you're in a position to know if any horses seem to be kept prepped for an immediate departure or are apparently being kept in another location outside of the stables. I've assigned Sgt. Mickelsen to that area tonight, and I'll bring him up to speed and make sure he knows to introduce himself to you. Let him know if you notice anything out of the ordinary."

"Yes, Sir," Denali said.

"The most important thing to remember, everyone," Captain Tomicka said, "is to remain calm. If these assassins notice people acting jittery, it will likely tip them off that we're on to them. We'll have to act like this is just another diplomatic reception." We all nodded. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll get to work."

"We had better get to work our normal duties, as well," Ambassador Kroaswell said, "so that we do not unintentionally tip off these would-be assassins."

******

That evening, I headed into my room and pulled off the regular clothes I'd been wearing and got dressed in my best clothing. As I was making a couple of minor adjustments, I heard a knock at the door, and I opened it to find Denali standing there.

"Here," he said, handing me a rather wicked-looking dagger in a sheath. "Hopefully you won't need this, but just in case…"

"I don't really know how to use this," I protested. "I'm an archivist, not a soldier!"

"Well, you always seemed to know so many other things from what you've read, I just thought…" Denali said, sounding a bit embarrassed.

"Yes, but reading about an action doesn't mean I'm an expert in that action." Then I looked at him and realized that I'd spoken rather harshly; he'd only been looking out for me. "Look, I'm sorry," I said. "I know you meant well, and who knows? It still just might come in handy. Stranger things have happened, right?"

"Yeah," he said, handing it to me and showing me how to keep it concealed under my clothing.

He turned to leave, then turned back to me. "And Aidan? Be careful."

"You too."

I headed over to the door to Ambassador Kroaswell's room and knocked. A few moments later, it opened to reveal him in his own finery.

"Are you ready?" I asked him.

"I am indeed," he told me. "Shall we go see what the night brings?"

We headed into main dining hall and took our positions, and were notified moments later that King Osvaldo had arrived. A short time later, Tinalla came in formally and tapped her ceremonial staff on the floor three times.

"Mr. Ambassador, may I present His Majesty, King Osvaldo, most high anointed sovereign of the kingdom of Andares, and his wife, the most gracious Queen Kalena." She then stepped aside, and as the small group of musicians struck up the Andaresian national anthem, King Osvaldo entered, with Queen Kalena on his arm, and followed a few moments later by Prime Minister Glaina (whom Tinalla also announced, though with slightly less formality than she had the king and queen) and a few other court and governmental officials.

Ambassador Kroaswell and I stepped forward, with his hand resting lightly on my shoulder, and we moved to the center of the room. Since we were on the opposite side of the room from the entryway by which King Osvaldo and his party had entered, we all met in the center of the room. I stopped at roughly what I considered the appropriate distance from the king and queen, based upon what Ambassador Kroaswell and I had discussed earlier when preparing for the formal greetings that would open the reception.

"Your Majesties," Ambassador Kroaswell said with a polite bow after the musicians finished, "Prime Minister Glaina. I bid you welcome to the embassy of the Kingdom of Skronina. May it always serve as a beacon of peace and trust between our two kingdoms."

"Thank you, Mr. Ambassador," King Osvaldo said formally. "We are grateful for your invitation to this reception tonight, and hope and pray that this will serve as the first of many fine meetings to ensure a positive, productive relationship between our kingdoms."

A couple of other pleasantries were exchanged, and then the reception got down to business, with the king and queen and their entourage mingling with Ambassador Kroaswell and his staff members while enjoying the buffet that the kitchen staff had laid out.

I kept glancing around, trying to see the mysterious man I'd seen who was, for some reason, out to assassinate King Osvaldo. The reception continued on. For what must have been more than an hour, I continued to search for the guy I'd seen or anyone who might have been one of his two accomplices. At one point, I met Captain Tomicka's gaze, and he gave me a quizzical look. I gave a small shrug, hoping that I was conveying that I hadn't seen spotted the guy or anything else suspicious while not giving anything away to anyone I shouldn't have.

I had to wonder why no one seemed to have made any move to kill anybody at all, much less King Osvaldo. I though that even I would have had ample opportunity to have made such a bold move and then make my escape, and I was just a young apprentice archivist subbing for a diplomatic aide. How many opportunities would a trained assassin have seen during that time? I started to wonder if there really was a plot against King Osvaldo at all.

As the reception wound down without incident more than two hours after it had started, I was really beginning to doubt that there was any assassination plot afoot. After all, the three had only mentioned that they were out to kill "the king," and had never given any indication that they had meant King Osvaldo. After all, "king" was a term that was applied to many people, objects, and situations besides just the male ruler of a kingdom. There were a variety of games that had something designated as a king, and the three conspirators could have just as easily been discussing going after a game piece. Similarly, I'd read once some criminal underworld gangs referred to the head of their gang as a king in a mockery of more legitimate society (which they looked down on), and the three guys could have been either staging a coup within their own criminal gang or planning a hit on a rival gang's leader.

"Well," King Osvaldo eventually said to Ambassador Kroaswell, "this was a very enjoyable evening. Thank you for it. Let us hope that all our future meetings are as enjoyable."

"We can always hope, can't we?" Ambassador Kroaswell replied. "I hope that I may be able to walk you out to your carriages. I don't get outside nearly as often as I perhaps ought to."

"It would be our pleasure."

I assumed my position at Ambassador Kroaswell's side, and he put his hand on my shoulder. As we walked outside with the monarchs and their group, along with a guard escort led by Captain Tomicka, the others all made small talk here and there, but me remaining quiet. Had I really been so naïve as to actually believe there would be an attempt on King Osvaldo's life?

We passed by the outside door of the kitchen, where a couple of staff members were taking out the garbage. I didn't pay too much attention at first, since I noticed Denali standing outside the stables, looking like he hadn't had too much success in spotting any assassins either, but then I noticed one of the kitchen staff had lingered outside after the other one had gone back inside. He was setting down a large bucket of food scraps and reaching inside with his right hand, shoving it in almost to his elbow. My initial reaction was, as would be expected, to think about how gross that was. Then, for some reason, I turned my attention more fully to what he was doing, because instead of looking down at the bucket as one would expect if he had noticed something in there that shouldn't have been and was removing it, I realized he was glaring at King Osvaldo.

My breath caught in my throat. Nobody else seemed to have noticed the man, or weren't paying him any real attention if they had. A moment later he stood up, holding a couple of long, thin objects in his hand. He transferred one of the two to his left hand, then drew back his arm.

"Look out!" I yelled, shoving Ambassador Kroaswell back before I lunged forward and pushed King Osvaldo and Queen Kalena, who had just moved in front of us a few moments before to talk with Prime Minister Glaina, who was a few steps further ahead. The two monarchs stumbled just as a knife came whizzing by where they had just been standing; the knife barely missed as I involuntarily jerked backwards. A guard quickly turned in the direction of the kitchen and brought his small shield up, blocking the second thrown knife.

While I put my hand on the knife Denali had given me (I didn't know what I would do with it, but it provided me with a bit of comfort nonetheless), the escort guards immediately surrounded the group of, while other guards, who were stationed at various points on the embassy grounds rushed towards the would-be assassin. The man grabbed the bucket by the handle and began swinging it around, and it was a few moments before one of the guards removed his shield from his arm and, upon seeing an opening, threw it at the man, who tried to duck but wasn't completely successful as the edge of the shield caught him on the top of the head. He stumbled, and the guards rushed him, tackling him in a mass that quickly went to the ground.

"Look alert, men!" I heard Captain Tomicka say to the men surrounding us. "There are still at least two others of them out there somewhere. Get everyone into the stables – we can secure that area better!"

We were quickly shepherded into the stables, and I let my breath (which I hadn't realized I'd been holding) out. I started to look around for Denali when the guard right next to me suddenly stumbled backwards as if he'd been shoved, and crashed into the guard behind him. I whipped around to find myself looking at the guy I'd seen earlier. He was wielding a dagger and had a fierce look on his face as he glared at King Osvaldo.

"You will die!" the assassin bellowed.

In a moment of panic, I whipped my knife up and made a gash right along the guy's forearm. He cried out from the pain and jerked back, and it was enough of a delay for another guard to rush in and run his sword through the guy. The guy gasped out, looking at the sword in him in disbelief before it was pulled out of him. He slowly keeled over and collapsed onto the floor, and I stared at his unmoving body in horror.

There was a moment of stunned silence in the stables before a small contingent of guards led another man in. "Sir," one addressed Captain Tomicka, "we found this man guarding three horses just outside the south entrance. When we went to inquire as to what he was doing, he attempted to flee, but we were able to apprehend him. Among other things, he was carrying this." The guard handed Captain Tomicka a small token of some sort.

"This is a pirate marker," Captain Tomicka said, looking up at the prisoner. "You're working for pirates." The prisoner's response was to spit into Captain Tomicka's face. Captain Tomicka calmly wiped the spit off, then said over his shoulder, "Find out what happened to the fellow who threw those knives."

A guard left, retuning a few moments later. "Dead," he reported. "Apparently he impaled himself on Corporal Roeman's sword."

"Pity," Captain Tomicka said. "I was looking forward to being able to know what his interrogation turned up. Well, we at least have one of the three. Your Majesty," he said, turning to King Osvaldo, "you and your party should return to the castle immediately. I will see to things here."

"I quite agree, Captain," King Osvaldo replied, looking a bit pale but maintaining a calm, level voice. He moved towards one of the carriages, but stopped and came over to me. Putting a hand on my shoulder, he said, "Young Aidan, twice tonight I owe you my life. Please accept my sincerest gratitude. When things have calmed down a bit, I shall have to find a suitable way to thank you." With that, he turned and quickly got into the carriage, along with the queen, and the others who had come with him quickly followed suit. They left, along with the guards who had escorted them to the embassy, and who were undoubtedly being very vigilant.

"Well done, Aidan," Ambassador Kroaswell said.

I smiled weakly, then dropped the knife and rushed outside, where I dropped down to my hands and knees next to the nearest bushes and promptly emptied the contents of my stomach into the shrubbery. I soon felt a pair of strong arms come around my shoulders and looked up to see Denali kneeling next to me.

"First time you've seen a guy killed, I take it," he said gently, and I nodded. "Yeah," he continued, "it's not a pleasant experience for most people. Come on, let's get you inside."

"But what about Ambassador Kroaswell?" I asked a bit weakly.

"It's all right, Aidan," Tinalla said, who was at the stable door. "I'll make sure he gets back to his room tonight. Go with Denali."

Denali led me back inside, and we headed into my room. He grabbed a candle and went out into the corridor to light it from a torch. Coming back into my room, he shut the door and lit a couple of other candles before he grabbed a glass off the dresser and poured a bit of water from the pitcher into it. "Here, rinse your mouth out," he instructed me, and I did as he complied, spitting the water into the basin. He then led me over to the bed, and had me sit down on the edge, where I started shaking. Sitting down next to me, Denali put his arms around me and held me, until the shaking stopped.

"Good thing I gave you that knife," Denali said.

"Yeah, good thing," I said, smiling at him. I shifted a bit. All that close contact with Denali had caused me to get an erection, and I didn't want him to know.

"You were brave," he told me, "although perhaps a bit too bold tonight. You may very well have saved King Osvaldo twice, but you almost got yourself killed twice in the process." He sighed. "Oh, Aidan, I don't know what I'd do without you!"

"Really?" I asked, looking up into his face.

He looked into my eyes for a moment, then did something that I had practically never dared hope would happen. He leaned down and firmly planted his mouth on mine. My eyes widened in shock. Breaking off the kiss, he grinned and said, "Really."

I grabbed his head and pulled it back down. Our lips met once again. We kissed hard for several moments before Denali broke off the kiss and practically dragged me onto the bed and got on top of me. He rested his forehead on mine, and we gazed into each other's eyes as he slowly started grinding his crotch against mine. I could feel something long and hard pressing into me there.

Articles of clothing started coming off our bodies, and before I knew it, we were both naked. I stared at his amazing body. I couldn't get enough of the sight! He similarly ran his eyes over my body, and I felt a bit self-conscious and exposed.

"Amazing," he gasped out. "Aidan, you're…wow!"

My eyes settled on his erection, and I almost gasped. It was about 6 ½ inches long, and there was a massive amount of pubic hairs around it. Denali got back onto me, and began grinding his crotch against mine. We both moaned out over the feelings coursing through our bodies.

After a bit of that, I gasped out, "Denali, I want you in me!"

He stopped his grinding action. "You sure?" he asked. "You know what you're asking?"

"Yeah," I said, taking his hand and moving it down by my butthole. I'd read about what gay sex involved (being an apprentice archivist in the palace archives, with all the information contained there, had its advantages), and anal intercourse, even though I'd read it could be a bit painful at first, was one of the few things I'd ever specifically fantasized about doing with another guy. "I want you in me."

"Oh, Aidan," Denali breathed out. He grabbed my ankles and moved my legs up so that my knees were touching my chest. He then spread my legs apart. "Now try to relax," he said. Moving his crotch into position, he aimed his dick at my butthole and moved forward. The end of his dick slid into me, and I gasped out. He stopped, looking into my eyes with concern.

"Keep going!" I all but cried out.

He started pushing himself into me further, never looking out of my eyes the whole time. I clutched the sheets under me as his dick continued its entry into my butthole. At long last he stopped, and I felt his pubic hairs pressing up against my butt. I reached my arms out to Denali, and he released my ankles and laid down into my embrace, our chests pressing together. I clamped my legs around his waist a moment later. His hair falling down around his face and mine and onto the bed, he kissed me again; then he started thrusting.

I never realized so many feelings could course through my body at one time. Our moans filled the room as we made love. I started caressing Denali's back, while I ran my legs up and down his legs as he continued to screw me. My heart hammered away in my chest, and I thought I felt Denali's heart as well. I kissed his shoulder as I clutched him, and I heard him moan out, though he didn't slow down his vigorous thrusting, his balls flopping against my butt with each inward thrust. On and on we went. I moaned out at the feeling of the large throbbing erection sliding in and out of my butthole. I felt my climax coming, and I tried to hold it back, but it was only a few moments before I cried out and came all over us as I flopped around. As my ejaculation ended, Denali's thrusting became more frantic, and moments later he arched his back and cried out. Incredible as it may seem, I felt something blasting out of the end of his dick and into me.

When his ejaculation was finished, he flopped down onto me, his face planted in the pillow next to my right ear as I released him. We laid there, still joined together and breathing hard from our exertion.

"Wow," Denali said. "That was incredible! I've never had sex like that before!"

"Neither have I," I said. It had been so much different than the time Jovana and I'd had sex.

Denali looked at me a bit puzzled before pulling out of me. He went back over to the washbasin and pitcher on the dresser and, using the soap there, got cleaned up a bit before he came over and cleaned me up. After he put everything back, he came back over and we got under the covers together. I rested my head on his chest.

"So, you've had sex before," I said a bit drowsily.

"Yeah," he admitted, running his fingertips lazily along my back. "Been having sex since I was a little younger than you are. He was someone I'd known for a while, even though he was a couple of years older than me – he was one of Halian's best friends. Puberty, suffice to say, hit me pretty hard when it started for me, and one thing led to another, and, well…"

"So what happened to him?"

"He was an apprentice miner. He was killed in the same mine cave-in that killed my father."

"I'm sorry," I said, not knowing what else to say. To lose both your father and your lover at the same time…. I couldn't imagine what that must have felt like.

He was silent for a moment, then said, "Well, I won't lie and say it's been easy. I do miss him very much. But, life doesn't always work out the way we want it to." After a moment, he continued. "So, I guess you weren't exactly a good little virgin, either."

"Yeah," I acknowledged, feeling my face go warm. I told him briefly about what had happened in Klodia with Jovana, quickly adding the fact that I'd had feelings for both guys and girls.

"Strange how things work out, huh?" he said after I'd finished.

"Yeah indeed," I agreed. "Denali, there is one other thing," I admitted. "You remember the day when I went with Ambassador Kroaswell and the others to meet King Osvaldo in the palace?"

"Yeah," he said.

"Well, that night…I had a wet dream. About you."

For several moments, he didn't say anything. Then he started chuckling. "Aidan, I don't want to seem like I'm laughing at you, 'cause I'm not. What I find so funny is that…well, I remember that night well, because you see, the reason I seemed to be so uncomfortable around you the next morning is because I'd had a wet dream about you that night, too."

"Really?" I asked, floored.

"Yeah, really," he said. "Oh, Aidan, you're just so amazing!"

"I know," I said with a grin, then yawned.

"I think we should both get some sleep," Denali said. "We've had a long day."

He put out the candle, but made no move to get out of my bed to return to his own (not that I was complaining). Fortunately the bed was more than big enough for both of us, and soon we were both asleep.


	7. Chapter 7

When I awoke, I stretched, and felt the nude body of Denali next to me. I couldn't help but smile. It may have all seemed like a setup from one of those romance stories that my mom and sister liked so much, but it felt so right, like Denali was _supposed_ to be there.

"Good morning," he said.

"Good morning," I replied, opening my eyes fully to find Denali looking at me. "How long have you been awake?"

"A little while," he said. "I was just watching you sleep." I felt myself blush again. "Well," he continued, "we'd better get up and get dressed. I'm sure that people will want to see us after what happened last night, and I'm not much in the mood to have them come in here and find us like _this_ , as enjoyable a position as it's been for me to be in."

"Uh, good point," I said, blushing harder.

"You're cute when you do that," he said, giving me a quick kiss before sliding out from under the covers. I followed suit, and we didn't exactly try to hide the fact that we were checking out each other's body while we got dressed. We then headed into the general dining room, and I noticed he stayed very close to me the entire time from when we left my room to when we got breakfast and sat down. The mood in the room was unusually subdued, probably because of what had happened the night before.

Suddenly someone sat down across from us. I looked up to see it was Mage Landyn. "Well, I was wondering when you two would finally get together," he said.

At first I wanted to say that Denali and I had been "together" for a while as friends, but then I realized that he was referring to what we'd done last night, and I blushed.

"What makes you say that?" Denali asked, trying to sound casual about it but with a bit of embarrassment in his voice.

"Don't you know?" Mage Landyn asked. "You two have lifebonded."

Denali and I stared at each other with wide eyes. "We…what?!" I managed to get out after a few moments of stunned silence between the two of us.

"You and Denali are lifebonded," Mage Landyn repeated.

"But…how? When?" Denali asked, sounding as shocked as I felt.

Mage Landyn shrugged. "Nobody really knows how lifebonds work," he said. "For you two, it probably happened whenever you first met. As a mage, I can sense such pairings when I see a lifebonded pair together, and I noticed yours the first time I saw the two of you together."

"Well, that certainly explains why I kept noticing you staring at us whenever we were together," I said.

"Yes, sorry about that," he said, looking a bit sheepish. "Like you, I've heard about lifebonds, and I'd been trained in what to look for as part of my mage training, but I've never actually encountered one before."

"So, now what?" Denali asked.

"Well," Mage Landyn said, "we should probably tell Ambassador Kroaswell – not because there's anything wrong, mind you, simply that he should be aware of it. Denali, you will also want to tell your family also. All things considered, you might want to consider moving into the same bedroom as well. Eventually, you'll want to decide where you're going to live after Aidan's job as Ambassador Kroaswell's aide is finished."

We headed to Ambassador Kroaswell's office and knocked. When he called out for us to enter, we did so, and sat down. Mage Landyn quickly explained what happened.

"Well, this is certainly a pleasant surprise," Ambassador Kroaswell said when Mage Landyn finished. "Thank you for letting me know, and certainly I, for one, have no objection to them sharing a room. Aidan's room would probably be the better of the two, though if they do choose that room, I certainly hope they will remember that this old man, whose hearing is perfectly good, needs his rest."

I felt my whole face go warm, and Denali said, "Of course."

"Anyway, later today I'll be meeting with Captain Tomicka to see about last night's little incident," Ambassador Kroaswell said, "to see how those assassins got in here in the first place and how we might avoid any future unpleasantries. Aidan, perhaps you should take a bit of time off."

"No, I'm fine," I said. "Really."

"Nothing a good night's sleep couldn't fix, eh?"

"Exactly!" I said (perhaps a little too cheerfully, since I noticed Denali cringe).

"Very well," Ambassador Kroaswell said. "However, I'll see about getting things finished up early so that you can help Denali move into your room while it's still light outside."

"Uh, sure," I said. I didn't think it was possible to blush so much.

I sat in on Captain Tomicka's report. Apparently, the pirates who'd sent the assassins had managed to turn a couple of the locals who were handling the assignment of various temp workers throughout the city, and those individuals had therefore been able to slip the assassins in with the other, legitimate workers. Troops had immediately been dispatched to grab those two individuals, who quickly spilled the beans after they'd been caught (evidently, they had been told that being involved in a conspiracy against the king could very easily bring the death penalty – hanging, specifically – but if they turned informant they could look at life in prison instead). While they didn't know much (they were apparently only told information on a need-to-know basis), Captain Tomicka said that some of the information they were providing was still quite interesting.

That night, as I crawled into bed, I curled up to Denali. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close to him.

"I'll admit," he said after a few moments, "I've never shared a bed with anyone for more than a night at a time. This'll be interesting."

"Yeah," I said.

"I'm just glad you don't snore."

"But I do other things in bed that you should be worried about."

"Like what?"

In response, I moved a hand down to his crotch and started rubbing his dick, which started getting hard.

"Whoa, easy there," he said as he started panting.

"This _is_ me being easy," I replied as I continued to play with his dick.

He took my hand off his dick and rolled onto me, planting his lips on mine as he started grinding his crotch against mine. I moaned out as best I could, then almost yelped out when his dick penetrated me. He started sliding his dick in and out of me, usually going somewhat slowly but occasionally he would thrust frantically for a few moments before slowing back down. We made love for a while before Denali arched his back and cried out. He flopped down onto me a few moments later, gasping for breath. He then rolled off of me, his softening dick sliding out of me, and started stroking my still-hard dick. I moaned out and squirmed, clutching the sheets under me. He then leaned down and took my dick into his mouth, and he started sucking on it, his hair falling down around my waist. I gasped out and put my hands on the back of his head as my hips started thrusting up and down. All too soon I was blowing my load into Denali's mouth.

"I love you, Aidan," Denali said quietly when he pulled up.

"I love you, too, Denali," I replied.

******

The next two weeks went by quietly. Denali started teaching me a few…interesting things in the bedroom. We generally had at least breakfast together, lunch when we could make the time and dinner whenever there were no formal functions going on, and this led several people to comment on how we made a cute couple (suffice to say, it took a while for me to learn to stop blushing furiously whenever someone would say that).

One night, as we lay in bed after some rather passionate sex, Denali said, "Tomorrow night we should go to visit my mother. While we've passed a few notes back and forth, I haven't visited her in ages, and you should meet her, all things considered."

"I guess I should, huh?" I said, feeling rather embarrassed that in all that time I hadn't once asked to meet either his mother or brother, even though they didn't live too far away. "But why tomorrow? And for dinner?"

"Well, it's my mother's birthday tomorrow," Denali said, sounding rather sheepish. "Everybody getting together for dinner is the one thing she's always insisted upon having as a present for her birthday. We don't really have any other close family nearby, so Halian and I are really all she's got left."

"Then we definitely need to go," I said, glad that nothing was scheduled for the next evening.

The next evening I bathed and pulled on some of my best clothes. Denali came in from the stables just as I was pulling on the last of my clothes, and he grabbed a few things before heading to the baths himself. While I waited for him to get ready, I looked out the window at the few clouds in the sky and watched them turn some beautiful colors as the sun set. Eventually the bedroom door opened, and I turned to greet Denali, only to have my mouth drop open. I'd never seen Denali in any sort of really formal clothes before, so to see him now, in what was probably the best outfit (by far) that he owned, practically blew me away.

"You like?" he asked with a grin.

My mouth opened and closed several times before I could find my voice. "Denali, you're beyond handsome," I finally managed to get out.

"Oh, I know," he said, pretending to preen for a moment. "So, you ready?"

"Yeah, we'd better get going," I said.

I walked over to him, and he gave me a quick kiss. "Just so you know," he said, "you're really good-looking yourself."

I grinned as we headed out. We walked to the restaurant where we were to meet Denali's mother and brother – fortunately, it wasn't too far from the embassy. I was kind of expecting some large bustling place, but the restaurant turned out to be a much smaller, somewhat out of the way place – what my father would describe as a "hole-in-the-wall." When we entered, Denali was almost immediately greeted enthusiastically by a large man.

"Denali, it's been too long!" the man said, embracing Denali. "How is the job at the embassy going? And who's your friend?"

"Yeah, it's been a while, hasn't it, Acalan?" Denali said. "The job's going great. And as for who he is…" Denali gestured me over. "Aidan, this is Acalan Tesalante, chef extraordinaire, Acalan, this is Aidan Marsatal. Besides being the aide to the new ambassador from Skronina, he is also my lifebond."

Acalan's face lit up. "Denali, you've lifebonded? That's wonderful!" Acalan took my hand and shook it vigorously. "It is indeed a great pleasure to meet you, Aidan. Denali's a great guy, but I'm sure you already know that."

"Yes, Sir," I said.

"Oh, please, it's jut Acalan," he said with a hearty laugh. He looked over his shoulder and called out, "Mariya, Denali's here!" Moments later, a woman came out, and I was introduced to Acalan's wife, Mariya, who greeted me warmly.

"Your mother and brother are already here," Mariya told us. "Come this way."

As we followed her, I noticed Denali wipe his hands on his pants. "Nervous?" I asked quietly.

"Yeah," he said. "Oh man, I hope they like you!"

"If they're anything like you, they will," I said, hoping I sounded confident. I was a bit worried about how I'd be received, too.

We were taken to a cozy back room, where there was a woman and older teenage guy that I figured must be Halian were seated. Both of them rose when we entered. There was a slight family resemblance between the woman and Denali, but there was a very striking resemblance between Denali and Halian, though Halian was probably 3 inches or so taller than Denali, and had a somewhat more muscular build.

"Denali!" the woman said, and she and Denali embraced.

"Happy birthday, Ma," Denali said, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Hey, little bro," the guy said, and the two brothers gave each other a quick one-armed hug, patting the other's back with their free arm.

"I assume that this is the person you wanted us to meet," Denali's mother said, gesturing to me.

"Yes," Denali said. "Aidan, this is my mother, Talise, and brother, Halian. Ma, Halian, this is Aidan Marsatal. He is my…lifebond."

"Hi," I said, feeling rather awkward.

There was a momentary silence in the room. "Wow," Halian finally said. "I'll admit I certainly wasn't expecting _that_." He flashed a big grin at me. "Though I am absolutely _not_ complaining, mind you. Welcome to the family, Aidan!" He grabbed me in a big bear hug.

"Can't…breathe…" I managed to get out after a few moments.

Halian released me. "Sorry," he said with a huge grin. "I get overly enthusiastic sometimes."

Talise came and firmly embraced me as well, although not nearly as hard as Halian had. "This is wonderful," she said, giving me a kiss on the cheek. "I would like to welcome you as part of the family as well, Aidan."

"Thank you," I said.

We sat down and Mariya and Acalan served dinner, which consisted of several Tehari dishes (I wisely avoided the fire chicken, and fortunately nothing else was nearly as spicy). I was a bit surprised that they served Tehari dishes there, since Mariya and Acalan weren't Tehari, and neither were any of their staff as far as I could see. When I mentioned it, Denali explained to me that Mariya had lived and worked among the Tehari as a youth, and her love of the cuisine had carried over into the establishment that she and Acalan had founded together (they served more than just Tehari dishes, but Denali and his family came here for a taste of home).

After dinner, we all sat back. We made small talk for a while, and I told Talise and Halian a little about my family and what I did back in Toskel as an apprentice archivist. Talise and Halian also told me a bit about themselves. Talise worked as a seamstress (she worked for herself), while Halian was an apprentice cabinetmaker.

When it came up that Denali and I hadn't decided where to live after my time at the embassy came to an end, I was a little nervous. How would Talise and Halian react if Denali decided to come back to Toskel with me? But I didn't have a chance to worry long.

"Why don't we all go live in Toskel?" Talise said.

"Wait – you'd do that?" I asked, almost unable to believe my ears.

She shrugged. "There's little to keep any of us here. We have no other close relatives besides each other. These days, most people are increasingly going to the bigger shops in town for clothing, and my own work can be easily relocated to most anywhere I go, and from what I am hearing through the grapevine, Tehari fashion is starting to become popular in Toskel, so there will be plenty of work for me."

I nodded at that. Tehari fashion was starting to become more popular in Toskel when I'd left, and I said as much. Talise smiled and continued. "The master cabinetmaker that Halian is apprenticed to says he will be ready in a few months to advance to journeyman status, and obviously, as the title implies, Halian will have to journey somewhere else to study further. It would not be hard for Denali to leave his job here and find similar work in Toskel, I'm sure. We have no other serious obligations that would keep us here."

"Well then, I guess we're going to Toskel," Denali said.

"That was easy," I said.

"It's like we were meant to go to Toskel," Denali commented.

"Maybe we were," Talise said with a shrug. "Who knows how the gods operate?"

Eventually, it came time to go our separate ways for the evening. We all got up and bid farewell. Talise said that Denali and I would have to visit her on occasion, and we promised we would.

Denali and I headed out and started the journey back to the embassy.

"See?" I said after a couple of minutes. "Like I said, they liked me."

"Yeah," Denali said in a bit of awe. "Wow, I can't believe we're all going to Toskel."

"Believe it," I said.

We arrived back at the embassy, and the guards on duty at the front gate waved us through. We went back to our room, and we pulled off our clothes and put them away. We were in just our underwear when Denali grabbed me and kissed me.

Breaking off the kiss, he said, "You have no idea of how hard it was for me to keep my hands off of you tonight."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that," I said, kissing him back.

Underwear went flying, and moments later we found ourselves on the bed, with me on top of me. I started grinding my crotch against his, and he moaned out. A few moments later I grabbed his dick, held it up, and started sitting down on it, moaning out as it entered my butthole. When his was all the way inside me, I kept my body straight up and down as I started riding Denali, sliding up and down his huge dick. My own dick smacked Denali every time I went down. Denali soon reached his climax, and I felt myself being filled with his seed. The sensation was so incredible I promptly blew my load all over him. I flopped onto Denali, his softening dick still inside me, and I felt him run his fingertips lightly on my back.

"Oh, Aidan," he said quietly.

I raised my head and gave Denali a long, slow kiss. "Denali," I said after breaking off the kiss, just enjoying having his name roll off my tongue. I reluctantly got off of him, and he cleaned us both up before getting back into bed. We curled up, and were soon sound asleep.

******

The next day, Ambassador Kroaswell asked me to run a couple of quick errands outside the embassy, delivering a couple of messages. I grabbed the two messages and headed out to deliver them. It was a nice day out, and I was glad to be able to get outside after spending so much time indoors.

I delivered the two messages and was heading back to the embassy when suddenly someone grabbed me from behind, and a hand was placed over my mouth. I struggled, but having been caught unaware like that, and having no training in how to handle such things, I was quickly overpowered and dragged into a side alley. I was practically carried down a set of stairs and through a small door.

"Well, look what we got here," someone said next to my ear. I wrinkled my nose at his bad breath. "We got ourselves a plan wrecker."

I was shoved onto the floor. I looked around to see several other men in the alley, all glaring at me. "Who are you?" I asked, trying to keep my voice from trembling. "What do you want?"

"Oh, you've never met us," the man said, "but you have met some of our…associates. I'm sure you remember them. Two of them are dead, and a third is in the custody of Andaresian forces, being interrogated. As for what we want…well, I think you already know what we originally wanted, and we're none too thrilled that you interfered with us getting it."

My eyes went wide. I remembered how it had been mentioned that the people who'd attempted to assassinate King Osvaldo had been working for pirates, and the guy holding me did have a slightly salty smell to him.

"You're afraid," the guy continued. "Good. Now, as for what we want, it's the same as it's always been – Osvaldo out of the way."

"I'm not going to help you with that!" I declared.

"Of course you aren't," the guy said. "We aren't expecting you to."

"Then why…"

"Grab you? As I said, you interfered with our plans, and some of us have a healthy sense of revenge. First, we're going to complete our mission of killing Osvaldo, just so you know that all your efforts to stop us were ultimately for nothing. Then we're going to make sure you die as well, preferably slowly and painfully."

My eyes widened, but before I had a chance to say anything, a blow landed on the back of my head, and all went dark…


	8. Chapter 8

I moaned as I slowly came around. My head throbbed. For a moment, I wondered where I was, and then it all came rushing back to me. I tried to stand up, but found myself tied up. I looked around, and noticed that it looked like I was in the same place that I'd originally been dragged to. I wondered if I should try calling out in the hopes that some passerby would hear and help, but I figured that since the people who'd grabbed me hadn't gagged me, there probably wasn't a very good chance that anyone would hear me.

I wondered just how long I'd been out. Would it have been long enough for anyone at the embassy to have missed me yet? I figured that I couldn't take the chance of my absence being overlooked for too long, and figured I'd better try and escape. Obviously there would be at least one more attempt on King Osvaldo's life, and I had to warn him.

I looked around, hoping that there was something I could get to that could be used to cut the ropes that bound me, like in the stories I read. But there was nothing around that I could see in the dim light that would be of use. Well, I thought, it was probably a dumb idea anyway. Even if there was something there that could be used to cut the ropes, I probably wouldn't have been able to get to it. I felt like crying. I wished Denali was there. I was sure he'd be able to figure out what to do.

Thinking of Denali, I remembered what it felt like to always have him around. I realized he filled a part of me I'd never known was empty. I loved him, in a way that was different from how I loved my family or hanging out with my friends, and I'd never thought it was possible to have feelings for someone like that.

A door opened, and the guy who'd spoken when I'd been grabbed came through. He saw I was awake and grinned. "Good, you're awake," he said.

He came over to me and pulled out a small (but very sharp-looking) knife. "Now, I know I said we wouldn't do anything else to you until Osvaldo was dead, but I don't know if I really want to wait that long to make you suffer."

My eyes widened as he started stroking my cheek with the flat of the blade. "Oh, the things I could do to you," he said, sounding almost joyful. "The ways I could make you suffer, make you beg me to kill you just to end the pain."

"You're crazy!" I said, unable to keep my voice from trembling.

"Maybe," he said with a shrug. "It's entirely possible. But then, that's probably a good part of what makes me so dangerous."

Suddenly there was a commotion outside, and a moment later the door flew apart as a guy came crashing backwards through it. He landed hard on his back, and a moment later Captain Tomicka stepped through the doorway, sword in hand.

The guy who was with me scooped me up off the floor and held me in front of him with his left arm, pressing his knife (which was in his right hand) against my throat. "Don't come any closer!" he hollered at Captain Tomicka. "I'll kill him!"

"Put him down," Captain Tomicka said. "You and your associates are in enough trouble as it is."

"I know," the man said, backing up towards a wall. "That's why you're going to let us go. I won't hesitate to kill this boy if it comes to that."

"You don't want to do that," Captain Tomicka told him. "It's over. Let him go."

"I can't do that. He's my ticket out of here."

I hadn't realized we were at the wall, right next to a small ground-level window, until a hand suddenly grabbed the guy and pulled him up against the wall. The hand held the guy's right arm, keeping it pulled back just enough to keep him from being able to cut my throat. The guy struggled against the grip, then stiffened while making a gurgling sound. He dropped the knife, and his arms went limp.

I quickly got out of his grip and spun around, stumbling backward. I then noticed what had caused his reaction – the large knife which had been plunged into the side of his neck. He dropped to his knees and then keeled over to one side, and that's when I saw Denali's face peering in at the window (where he'd laid down on his stomach to be able to look and reach through). I was never so glad to see him.

The guy who'd originally been knocked through the door had gotten up, but at the sight of his friend laying dead on the floor, he quickly stuck his hands up. Captain Tomicka pointed his sword at the guy and said, "Don't move."

A few moments later, two more soldiers came in. "Sir, the area is secure," one of them told Captain Tomicka.

"Good work, Corporal Roeman. See that this man is detained."

As Corporal Roeman and the other soldier got to work on tying up the guy on the floor, Denali had gotten up and rushed around to the entrance, and pushed his way past Mage Landyn, who had just come in, and charged over to me, scooping me up in a crushing embrace before locking lips with me.

Denali ended the kiss, and began checking me over to make sure I was all right. Meanwhile Captain Tomika came over and pulled out a knife, getting to work on cutting the ropes.

"Captain, you don't know how glad I am to see you," I said. "But you should know, these guys are buddies to the guys who tried to kill the king at the reception, and they're planning on trying again!"

"Oh, we know," he replied. "When I got a message from Ambassador Kroaswell stating that you had left on an errand for him and hadn't returned for some time, on a hunch I decided to send a message to the palace insisting that they add some extra guards around the king, and those guards arrived just as this guy's friends made their attempt."

"The king? Is he all right?" I asked a bit panicked.

"Oh he's quite all right," Captain Tomicka assured me as he cut away the last of the ropes. "The assassins, on the other hand, not quite so much."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good to know. Anyway, how did you find me?"

"Oh, we had a little help," Mage Landyn said, gesturing to Denali.

"I don't understand," I said. "How did you even begin to know where to look for me?"

"A lifebond is a strong thing," Mage Landyn explained as he placed a hand gently on the back of my head. The throbbing in my head immediately stopped. "Two lifebonded people can sense to a certain extent the location of each other, and I was able to work with Denali to track you down."

We headed outside, Denali's arm protectively draped around my shoulders. As we made our way back to the embassy, I noticed that it was evening. I took a deep breath, glad to be free.

After a bite to eat, Denali and I went into our bedroom. "I need a bath," I said.

"I think I'll join you," he said. Suddenly Denali scooped me up and deposited me onto the bed. He got onto me and gazed into my eyes as he slowly started grinding his crotch against mine.

"Hey!" I protested. "I thought we were going to take a bath!"

"We will," he said with a grin.

He then began entering me, and I moaned out. When he was all the way inside me, he began gently thrusting, and I wrapped my arms and legs around him, holding him tightly. He began going faster and faster, soon pumping energetically. As he pounded my butt, I realized how much I needed that after having gone through the earlier events of the day, and I suspected Denali needed it as much as I did. All too soon I felt my ejaculation building, and I tried to hold back. But it was a loosing battle, and within moments I cried out and began shoving my crotch into him as best I could as I came all over us. Denali thrust once, twice, a third time before arching his back and crying out and releasing his own load into me. He collapsed onto me, and both of us breathing hard.

He kissed me hard before pulling out of me, and we got up and headed to the bath, Denali's arm around my shoulders. We bathed together, just relishing being in physical contact with each other. When the water started getting cold, we got out and dried off, and headed back into the bedroom. Climbing into bed, he said gently into my ear, "I love you, Aidan."

"I love you, too, Denali," I replied.

******

Interestingly enough, one of the pirates captured turned informant rather quickly, and within a matter of weeks Andaresian forces launched a surprise attack on the main pirate base that those who'd attempted to have King Osvaldo assassinated had been operating out of. From what I heard, it was enough to break organized piracy in the region.

King Osvaldo had a meeting with me a few days after he got the reports about what happened, and asked me what kind of a reward I wanted for both saving his life and helping to defeat the pirates. After getting over my initial surprise, I admitted that I hadn't really done anything with the intent of getting a reward out of it, and that I really just wanted to see our two nations get along peacefully. If I was to be given any reward, I wanted it to be that.

He smiled and turned to Ambassador Kroaswell, who was standing next to me. "Ambassador Kroaswell, you have a very wise young man for your aide."

"I certainly like to think so, Your Majesty," Ambassador Kroaswell replied.

As we were heading back to the embassy, Ambassador Kroaswell said, "Aidan, I want you to know that was a very mature answer you gave the king. I'm very proud of you."

"Thank you, Sir," I replied, feeling warm all over.

******

I'd love to say that a whole lot of exciting things happened for the rest of the time that I was there at the embassy, but actually the following few months went by pretty quietly. Denali and I continued to enjoy a lot of sex, like the two teenage boys we were.

Almost before I knew it, Ambassador Kroaswell's regular aide arrived. Hajo Bayani was a tall, slender guy who looked to be about 20. We spent several days going over everything that he should be aware of as Ambassador Kroaswell's aide at the embassy.

As I worked with Hajo and got ready to head home myself (and as Denali, Talise and Halian got ready to come with), I couldn't believe that it was almost time to go home. I'd heard a few times adults talking about how it felt like something had only just happened when in reality the event in question had really happened months or even years before. I used to wonder what they meant by that, but now I thought I might understand.

The day finally arrived for me to go. Denali and I got up early, as Talise had made transportation arrangements with a trading caravan headed to Toskel, and the caravan master wanted to get an early start. It was the only caravan of any sort that was headed anywhere near Toskel for the next two weeks, so if we missed it, we'd either be on our own for the journey or we'd have to wait for the next caravan. Before leaving, I stopped in to see Ambassador Kroaswell one last time.

"Aidan," he said after a bit of small talk, "you've been a good aide, and I shall miss you."

"I will miss you, too, Sir," I replied.

"I wouldn't mind your staying here in some sort of capacity, but I do understand that you're eager to get home. I wish you the best of luck, and somehow, I get the feeling that you'll have much success in life."

We shook hands, and I headed out.

******

For most of the journey, nothing much happened. Talise and Halian were in one wagon, while Denali and I were in another.

However, that changed just after we traveled through the Anxion Pass. A couple of the wagons had started having some trouble which the caravan master thought might be very problematic if not fixed soon.

Fortunately, because I recognized a rather weird-looking rock formation a short way back, I was able to offer a suggestion to the caravan master, and within an hour we were on our way to Klodia.

Late that afternoon, we rolled up to Klodia, and were greeted at the outskirts of town. I heard a familiar deep voice coming from the front of the caravan, conversing with the caravan master, and I hopped down and moved up to the front. I found the caravan master talking with Pacey, the guy who'd knocked me out all those months ago.

"Oh, it's you again," Pacey said when he saw me.

"Afraid so," I replied.

"Well, I'm a bit surprised you'd come back here, considering how we met," he said.

I shrugged. "I know it wasn't intentional, and I'm not one to hold a grudge. Besides, these folks," I indicated the caravan master, "are kind enough to be giving me a lift home, and that's kind of hard to do if their wagons give out on them."

Pacey grinned. "Fortunately you brought them to the right place to help with that, and I'm not just saying that because we're the only settlement worth noting for almost 50 miles. Anyway, while we take care of it, there are some people here who probably wouldn't mind seeing you. They're in the communal room, once you get your stuff put in the guest rooms."

I nodded my thanks, and we followed Pacey's assistant in to the guest rooms and got our personal stuff put in there (most of the stuff in the wagons would be remaining in them, except for the 2 wagons being fixed, which would be unloaded to make it easier to fix the wagons). Denali and I put our stuff in our room (interestingly enough, the very same room I'd stayed in the first time I was there), and he flopped onto the bed for a moment.

"Nice bed," he said. "I think I could stay here for a while."

"All right," I said. "I'll be in the communal room if you want to see me for anything before I get back."

He nodded, and I headed into the communal room. Several people glanced up when I entered, and I received a bunch of greetings. As I was greeting everyone back, I noticed Jovana sitting over at one of the tables next to Kala. She looked up and we made eye contact. She smiled and I quickly went over as she rose.

"Good to see you again, Aidan," she said after giving me a quick kiss (to several whistles from others).

"Good to see you, too," I said. "And I guess congratulations are in order," I said, gesturing to her rather large belly.

"Yeah," she said, glancing down. "Me, pregnant. Who'd have thought?"

"So, who's the father?" I asked.

She just looked up at me, and I suddenly felt myself go cold. "No…" I quietly said.

"Yes," she simply said.

I stumbled back a bit, and sat down unsteadily on the bench. "But I thought you said humans wouldn't get pregnant from a griffin mating flight," I said to Kala.

"No, I said it was not likely, not impossible," she replied, the sympathy clear on her face. "This is one of those rare times it happens."

"Not to be mean or anything," I said, "but are you sure the baby's mine?"

"Yes," Jovana said. "I had not been with any other guy since the previous mating flight some months before that one, and have not been with any guy since."

"Interesting you should arrive now," Kala told me "The baby is due any day now."

"Now, I don't mean to sound accusatory or anything," Tamin said, "but you should know we hope you'll be a good, responsible father and help Jovana with the baby. We realize it wasn't intentional, and we don't know what your viewpoints are on marriage and such, but we don't think that means that you shouldn't be involved. Plus, an unwed mother in our society is something of an outcast, to put it politely."

I tried to remain calm, although it wasn't easy. Here I was, 13 years old – and about to become a father! Taking a deep breath, I said, "Well, marriage…may be a problem. While I was in Jaana, I met someone, and we…well, lifebonded. He's here with me. So you can imagine that it could be a bit difficult with the idea of my marrying Jovana."

There was a bit of murmuring in the room, and I quickly added, "But that doesn't mean that I don't want to be involved in raising my baby. I still will help take care of him or her.' I thought for a moment. "Look, you can come with me," I told her. "I've got this cousin, named Kavon, who's just a little older than you. He's single – or at least he was when I left – and I can introduce you. I think he'd really like you, maybe enough to, I don't know, consider marrying you."

"But what if he decides not to?" Tamin asked. "What if he, like you, has found someone else since the last time you saw him?"

I took a deep breath. "Then Jovana can live with me and my lifebond – his name's Denali, by the way. It may be difficult, but I'm sure he'd understand if I married Jovana." I turned to Jovana. "And you'd understand that I'm lifebonded to him, right?" She nodded a bit hesitantly.

"Please excuse me," I said. "I think I should go talk to Denali. He should hear about this from me."

I hesitantly got up and headed back to the room I was sharing with Denali, feeling a bit numb. 

How could this have happened?! I wasn't even sure what to say to Denali about Jovana's pregnancy, much less what I'd say to my family when I saw them again.

I entered the room, and Denali looked up at me from where he still lay on the bed. He grinned, but the grin faded away after a moment. "Aidan, what's wrong?" he said.

I sat down on the bed next to him. "Denali, you remember me telling you about Jovana? The girl I had sex with here when the griffins mated?"

"Yeah," he said.

"Well, because of that…she's pregnant."

He plopped his head back onto the pillow and was quiet for a few moments. "Well," he finally said, "I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I mean, that's something that can happen when a guy and girl have sex, right? So, what are you planning on doing about it?"

"Well, I was thinking of taking her and the baby, when it's born, back to Toskel with us and introducing her to my cousin Kavon. Here, they kind of look down on unwed mothers, and I feel that it's kind of my responsibility to help her out with that, since I am the baby's father, after all."

"Right," he said.

"Look, I have to tell you – I told them that if, for whatever reason, it didn't work out between Jovana and Kavon and they didn't get married, that…well, I'd marry her. You understand, right?"

He laid there without saying anything for so long that I said, "Denali, please don't be mad."

"I'm not mad," he said. "This is just a lot to take in. She knows we're lifebonded, right?"

"Yeah, but like I said, I feel responsible for putting her in this situation in the first place, even though I realize it's not anybody's fault that we had sex as a result of the griffins' mating flight."

"You're right," he said. "I'm not crazy about sharing you with anyone else, but I understand you feel you need to take care of her. Certainly it's good for you to want to be in your baby's life."

"Thanks," I said.


	9. Chapter 9

The next day went relatively quietly. I introduced Denali to Jovana, and they seemed polite enough to each other, though they also seemed to not quite know what to make of each other, not that I could blame them.

I had a small audience at breakfast and lunch both when I told about what had gone on while I was in Jaana. Perrin said he was surprised that so much could happen to one person in such a short amount of time.

"You're not the only one," I assured him.

That evening, Denali and I decided to take a bath together to get some of the dust off of us. We began stripping, and naked, I got down onto my hands and knees at the end of the bed to put my boots under the bed. Suddenly a pair or arms went around my waist, and a hard object began sliding into my butthole. I looked over my shoulder to see Denali behind me, pushing his dick into my butthole. Grinning at me, he made a kissing motion with his lips.

"You're never content to take just a bath with me, are you?" I grunted out.

"Nope," he said with a grin.

Then he started thrusting into me, and I was amazed when my body actually started rocking back and forth in time to his thrusting. My dick and balls flopped around as my dick started getting hard. Denali's balls flopped against mine with each inward thrust of his hips. The room was soon filled with the sounds of our panting and groaning and the smacking of his hips against my butt as I willingly slid along his shaft. I was incredibly horny by that point, and it didn't take long for me to start ejaculating. Shot after shot blasted out of the end of my dick, one even hitting me in the nose.

My arms felt weak, and as I sagged down Denali tightened his hold on my waist as he continued to plow my butt. His thrusting soon became frantic, and he eventually gave a final big thrust and cried out as he blew his load into me. We stayed there for a few moments, joined like that until Denali withdrew his now-soft dick out of me. I somewhat slowly got up, feeling a bit wobbly at the somewhat open feeling in my rear end, and Denali gave me a kiss. We took a bath and went back into the bedroom, where we climbed into bed and curled up together.

I don't know how long we were asleep before there came a knocking at the door. "Who is it?" I called out a bit groggily.

Someone who I vaguely remembered from last time opened the door and poked their head into the room, holding a candle. "Kala just wanted you to know that Jovana has gone into labor."

"Uh, thanks," I said. "I'll be right there."

The person closed the door, and I got out of bed and fumbled around for a few moments for some clothes. Quickly dressing, I opened the door again to find the person who'd knocked earlier still waiting for me, and we headed to where Jovana was.

Entering, I found Jovana laying naked on a bed, with her legs spread apart, the soles of her feet on the bed, and her knees pointed up towards the ceiling. Kala was bustling about, while Deyanira and Adamaris were by Jovana's side.

"A little overdressed, aren't you, Aidan?" Adamaris said.

"Huh?"

"Now you have to remember," Kala said, "Aidan isn't from here, and probably doesn't know our more…unique customs." Glancing at me, she said, "What Adamaris means, Aidan, is that as a part of our beliefs, it's customary for both the expectant mother and the father of the child to be naked during the delivery."

"Oh," I said a bit weakly, and I couldn't help but blush a bit.

"But we realize you don't share our beliefs," Kala added, "so we don't expect you to do things the way we do. Now, I have just a couple of things to quickly get done here, and then we can get down to the business of getting this kid delivered."

I moved over to Jovana. "How are you doing?" I asked.

"Well, I'm ready to get this over with," she said.

"I'll bet," I replied. She didn't look comfortable at all. "Hey, I'll be right back," I told her.

I quickly stepped outside, a puzzled look on Jovana's face as I left. I found another door that, as I suspected, led to an empty room. Going inside and shutting the door, I took a deep breath and did what I had to do.

Heading back in to the room Jovana was in, I tried to ignore the stares from Deyanira and Adamaris as I moved over to Jovana's side. She took in the sight and smiled. "You really didn't have to, you know."

"I know," I said. "But it seemed like the right thing to do."

Kala came over. Glancing at me, she said, "Huh, you're a bit bigger down there than I thought you'd be."

I blushed, and I remembered that it was also what Jovana had said to me that fateful evening 9 months before. I was glad when Kala turned her attention to Jovana, getting down into position by the business end of things.

"All right," Kala said, "it looks like you're fully dilated, Jovana. Now, I want you to start pushing, just like I taught you."

As Kala began walking Jovana through giving birth, I hesitantly reached out and took Jovana's hand in mine. I felt a little embarrassed to be staring at the pussy of a naked girl (especially while standing there naked myself, and I was glad Denali and I'd had sex earlier; otherwise I might have gotten an erection and _really_ embarrassed myself). Sure, the girl in question was someone I'd had sex with, and I wasn't there for any sort of sexual reason, so there shouldn't have been any reason for my embarrassment, but in some ways it still didn't seem really polite to be doing so.

Jovana pushed and relaxed, pushed and relaxed. After a while, I was beginning to wonder if Jovana was actually in labor at all. I'd heard about something that pregnant women sometimes experience that was called "false labor" (in which it seemed for a while that the woman was in labor, but wasn't really), and wondered if this was one of those times. But then I mentally kicked myself. Kala was a trained healer, and if she said that Jovana was in labor, then Jovana was in labor.

Then Kala said, "All right, I see the head coming out."

I snapped my attention back to Jovana's pussy to find that sure enough, a head was emerging from it. I watched in almost morbid fascination as the baby continued to slide out of Jovana. Jovana gripped my hand so tightly that I was almost afraid she'd crush it. When the baby's shoulders exited Jovana's pussy, Kala reached out and took a hold of the baby, pulling it out the rest of the way. Kala did a bit of work on the baby, and moments later the baby's cries filled the room.

"Aidan, Jovana, congratulations. It's a boy," Kala said.

Jovana released my hand and propped herself up, joining me in staring at our son as Kala cut the umbilical cord. Kala cleaned the baby up, and handed him to Jovana, who cradled him against her.

"Hey there, little guy," she said gently to him. "It's all right. Mommy's got you." The baby settled down and stopped crying. She continued to talk to him for a bit, and then said, "Hey, here's your daddy. Say hi to him." My son actually seemed to understand her as he looked up at me, and I stared back in fascination.

"I'm going to take the placenta out now," Kala said.

"Would you like to hold him?" Jovana asked me.

"Sure," I said.

Kala helped to transfer him to me, showing me how to hold him. I gently sat down on the bed next to Jovana, holding our son against my bare chest as we stared at each other. (I was glad I was sitting down and that I wasn't directly watching Kala take the placenta out of Jovana – it's not the most pleasant thing to see.)

After a while, Kala gently said, "I hate to end this little family gathering, but Jovana and the baby should get some rest."

"Right," I reluctantly said, glancing out the window and seeing the first signs of dawn. I gave the baby back to Kala, who put him in a nearby crib and covered him up. "I'll see you later," I told Jovana. "You did a great job."

"Thanks," she replied wearily.

For some reason, I gave her a kiss on the lips before heading out. Just after I closed the door, I turned around to find Perrin and Keion coming down the hallway. I didn't have a chance to do anything before they spotted me.

"Whoa, I never took you for a streaker, Aidan," Perrin said with a grin.

"I'm not," I said, blushing furiously. "It's just that Jovana just had the baby."

"Congratulations," he said.

"Cool," Keion added.

"I hope both of them are doing well," Perrin said.

"Yes," I replied. "Now, if you'll excuse me…"

"See you later," Perrin said with a big grin.

I left with as much dignity as I could muster and went and pulled my clothes back on before heading back to my room. Stripping yet again, I crawled back into bed, and Denali stirred.

"Well?" he said drowsily.

"It's a boy," I told him.

"Congratulations, daddy," he said, giving me a kiss.

Later that day, after I'd gotten a bit more sleep, Denali and I went and (after checking with Kala) looked in on Jovana and the baby. We found Jovana holding the baby in bed. We all cooed over the baby for a while.

Kala came in at one point to check on them. "So, have you decided on a name yet?" she asked us.

Jovana and I glanced at each other. "I haven't," I said. Picking a name for the baby hadn't even occurred to me before, as strange as that might sound.

"Neither have I," Jovana said. When I looked at her, she said, "Honestly, I was kind of waiting for you. Strange, I know, since I had no idea whether or not you were even coming back."

I looked at the baby nestled in her arms. For some reason, one name kept popping up in my head. "Haakon," I finally said.

"It's an interesting name," Denali said. "Any particular reason for suggesting it?"

"Well, it was the name of one of my great-grandfathers," I said. "My mother's mother's father. I've always kind of liked it. I don't really know why."

"Well, it's a good, strong sounding name," Jovana told me. "So Haakon it is." Looking down at our son, she said, "Hello, Haakon Marsatal."

Little Haakon's response was to hiccup.

******

Kala insisted that Jovana wait for a few days before traveling. Fortunately, it took that long to get the wagons ready (a cursory inspection found a couple of other wagons that needed fixing as well).

Jovana and Haakon traveled in the same wagon as Denali and me. At night I slept between Denali and Jovana. It was a bit of a tight fit in the wagon, but it worked out. Talise made sure to stay nearby to help out with Haakon if needed.

At long last we rolled into Toskel, and man, was it a sight for sore eyes! I hadn't really realized how much I'd come to miss it until we got there. The destination of the caravan was well before my home, but the caravan master was kind enough to make sure one of the wagons was unloaded quickly so that it could take us to my house.

Talise suggested that she and Halian be dropped off at an inn for them to stay ay while they arranged permanent lodging, but I protested, insisting that my parents would want to meet them and that accommodations could be made at our house. She finally relented when I agreed that we'd take them to the nearest inn if it proved to be too many people for our house to hold.

As we arrived home in the evening (I wondered how we always managed to reach our intended destination in the evening…), my mother came out to see what the commotion was about, and cried out "Aidan!" in delight when she saw me. We rushed to each other and embraced. My father and Rhys, who apparently heard the commotion as well, were not far behind, and to say that it was a joyful reunion indeed would be an understatement.

The others, who'd hung back, came forward at my beckoning. I quickly rattled off everyone's name to each other, and just after I introduced Jovana Haakon let out a little sound, and my parents looked down at him.

"Why, what an adorable baby," my mom exclaimed, reaching out to touch Haakon's hand. "Why, he looks just like Aidan did at that age…" Her voice trailed off as things began to click in her mind, and she looked up at me with a bit of a stunned expression on her face. My father's startled gaze joined hers as comprehension began to dawn on him as well.

"Uh, we'd better go inside and sit down," I said. "We need to talk…"

******

Admittedly, it was a bit much for my parents to take in at first, not that I could blame them. Almost a year before, they'd sent their 13-year-old son off on a seemingly ordinary assignment to be a diplomat's aide in a neighboring country, only to have him return with a teenage girl, a baby he'd fathered by said teenage girl, a lifebonded lover, and the lifebonded lover's mother and brother. Not only that, but that son had gotten involved in saving a foreign king's life (twice) from pirates and nearly been killed by said pirates in the process. It's not something a parent would normally expect would happen to one of their kids (heck, it's not even something said kid would have ever expected to have happen to him).

I was allowed a few days off to settle back in before returning to work in the palace archives with Master Grendan. During that time, I introduced Jovana to Kavon. Any fears I about whether or not they'd like each other at all quickly went out the window, as they hit it off amazingly well. Kavon quite smitten (to borrow a word from my dad) with her, and didn't seem to mind that she'd made out with other guys and had a kid by one of them (his own cousin, no less). I mentally heaved a huge sigh of relief.

Camryn was surprised and astounded (his dad's word) at what I'd been through when I finally got a chance to go see him. He was worried at first that between Denali and Haakon I wouldn't have any time left for him, but I assured him that I wouldn't forget him. When he met Denali, the two hit it off, and by the end of the evening were acting as if they'd been friends for years. Camryn was particularly pleased when he learned that Denali liked holden ball (a game we'd played often with our other friends when we were younger, and still did sometimes when we could find the time), and insisted that with him on our team, we'd be unstoppable.

When I finally returned to working with Master Grendan, it seemed a bit quiet compared to what I'd been through – but then, it's not like I was complaining. At least no one was trying to kill anyone else.

A couple of days after I went back to work in the archives, Master Grendan told me at the end of the day to come in the next day in my more formal clothes, since we would be meeting with the king. I was a bit surprised, but did as instructed.

When we were ushered into King Quillan's presence, we knelt, and he bid us to rise and take seats. "Apprentice Marsatal," he said to me, "I recently had Ambassador Forseth deliver a letter to me from King Osvaldo. It seems you were quite busy while you were Ambassador Kroaswell's aide."

"I can see how it would seem so, Your Majesty," I replied, feeling embarrassed under the attention.

"In fact, it seems that King Osvaldo is so impressed that he's being a lot more willing to communicate that I thought he would be on certain issues, and he says we have you to thank for that."

"Well, I was just doing my job, Your Majesty," I told him.

"Actually, you were doing more than just your job," he replied. "Far more. I've been speaking with Master Grendan about you, and I realize that while you've asked that your only reward for saving King Osvaldo's life – twice, as incredible as it sounds – is that he continue peaceful negotiations with us, it is felt that you should deserve an acknowledgement of the gratitude that he – and I, I might add – have towards you."

"No further thanks is needed, Your Majesty," I said, feeling really embarrassed by what the king was saying. "Really."

"Perhaps, but never the less, you shall have one anyway. The first part is that you are hereby advanced to journeyman status, effective immediately."

I was floored. Practically no apprentice archivist (heck, practically no apprentice in any field of work) was ever elevated to journeyman status under most circumstances prior to their 16th birthday, and most had to wait longer than that for that particular advancement.

Master Grendan rose from his chair and reached into a pocket of his robe, withdrawing something. He moved over to me and removed my apprentice pendant and in its place put a journeyman's pendant. Giving me a pat on the shoulder, he returned to his seat.

"Now, I do understand that you've actually lifebonded, and also have a son," King Quillan continued, "and I realize you may not wish to travel far from either. That is why, as a journeyman, you will be traveling around to the various branch archives in and around Toskel, working on certain specific assignments that Master Grendan has always intended to have handled but have simply never been dealt with before. He has also indicated that when the day finally arrives for him to retire, he would like you to succeed him, and I completely agree. Though, of course, we certainly hope he will not retire for a good many years to come."

My jaw just about hit the floor. To be a full archivist in an archive anywhere near Toskel to begin with was a coveted position indeed, and to be given a permanent position in the palace archives itself was a major deal indeed, but to be the _master_ archivist of the palace archives was something few apprentices even dared dream of even getting considered for.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," I managed to get out.

"You are quite welcome," he replied. "Though I admit my approving his request was for a bit of a personal reason. While I am not a superstitious individual by nature, you seem to have developed an ability to flush out those who would readily kill even a king to achieve their goals, while surviving the encounter. While I have no reason to believe anyone would wish me dead, that is an ability I would not mind keeping around me."

"Let us hope, then, that no one will ever want you dead, Your Majesty," I said. "Honestly, and please take this the way I mean it, rather than the way it might sound, I've had enough of that kind of adventure to last me the rest of my life."

King Quillan laughed. "I'm sure you have," he said. "Hopefully there will never be a reason for you to have another such adventure."

******

Traveling to the various archives keeps me busy, though not quite as much now as at first. It was certainly an interesting task set before me, and I am learning a lot.

Talise was able to find a nice place for herself and Halian near what she felt was a good location for a shop. When she finally opened her shop up, she suddenly had almost more business than she knew what to do with after one of her designs caught the eye of one of the court baronesses, and Talise brought on several new apprentices in the following weeks.

Halian was able to quickly find a position at a cabinet shop, and is becoming quite the ladies' man. One particular girl seems to have caught his eye, though nothing seems to have happened yet (at least that I'm aware of, anyway).

Denali found a position with one of the inns (interestingly the very same inn Camryn is apprenticed to) helping out with their stable. My family and friends warmed to him pretty quickly, though a few of them were surprised to learn that I had romantic feelings towards guys in the first place.

Six months after meeting, Kavon and Jovana got married. Haakon was with me during the wedding ceremony, and he was very well behaved the entire time. Haakon is living with them, though I get to see him a lot, too

Denali and I live with my parents. It will probably be a few years before we get a place of our own, just because we really can't afford to have our own place right now. We did, however, get a bigger bed, one that can actually accommodate both of us more comfortably (and one that doesn't make quite as much noise when we have sex) that the one I used to sleep in prior to meeting Denali (Denali once commented with a grin that the new bed allows me to sleep _with_ him, rather than _on_ him).

The peace process between Skronina and Andares is, from what little I hear, going very well. While I'm certainly glad I could help with that, I don't ever want to have to go through what I did to give that help ever again. (I don't know why anyone says such things cause "excitement." Having personally been through them, excitement is hardly one of the emotions I felt, during or after.) In the future, I will leave such adventures to other people and stick to being an archivist. After all, nobody ever tries to kill an archivist.

**~~THE END~~**


End file.
